This week, Joseph begins a conversation about cultivating compassion and equanimity in challenging times.
Show Notes
Center of Awareness (Opening) – Joseph leads with a guided meditation that settles us into our bodies and brings us into the moment; the place where compassion and equanimity flow.
Compassion & Equanimity in Challenging Times (10:45) – It is more and more transparent that we are living in exceptionally difficult times. We find suffering on so many levels, in every corner of the earth. How can we open ourselves to the reality of this in a balanced way that allows us to be open and responsive to suffering without becoming overwhelmed by it all?
Joseph examines how the combination of compassion and equanimity allows us to find this balance and explores the importance of equanimity, a value that often gets undervalued and overlooked in Western culture.
“It seems to me that there are two key elements in learning how to be with all of this in a skillful way, and it has to do with the balance of equanimity and compassion.”
Sharon Salzberg describes the spacious realm of equanimity and its role in cultivating and preserving an abiding sense of faith on Ep.29 of the Metta Hour Podcast
Tools for Cultivation (18:55) – Joseph gives us tools to deal with our reactivity to adversity and suffering. When used regularly, these tools allow us to maintain our inherent compassion and equanimity in any condition.
“One thing that is very important to remember as we navigate all the many ups and downs of our lives is that a vast majority of what happens in our lives is completely outside of our control. We would like to think that we are at the center of the universe and that what we want and what we desire should be how things are, because it is obvious that they are the right things to do. But as you have probably noticed, the world is not organized that way.”
Not Getting Caught in Indifference (28:50) – Equinimty can allow us to sit with the suffering around us, but because of the pervasiveness of suffering it is easy to slip into a place of indifference. With Joseph, we look at how compassion is the key to not falling indifferent to the suffering of others.
“Compassion is that feeling that is aware of the suffering that is going on and wants to do something about it.”
Image via Analogvibestudio