Equanimity is something you do, not something you have; it is a lived way of moving through the world.

Zalman Schachter-Shalomi & Ram Dass. Ram Dass's core teaching of “loving awareness” is ultimately about equanimity. It is about holding all of life—suffering and beauty, action and stillness—from a spacious, steady center that does not collapse into fear, judgment, or denial. His stories and practices explicitly train people to rest in that inner balance while still engaging the world with compassion and service. Photo by Joan Halifax

Michael Uebel is a psychotherapist and writer whose work sits at the intersection of psychology, intellectual history, and contemplative practice. Frustrated by the way equanimity is usually described—as calm, stillness, or emotional dampening—he went looking for a more dynamic understanding, one he found echoed across Western and Eastern traditions. His search led him to see equanimity as a form of dynamic, playful perspective-taking, a framing that better captures its unique power.

This article caught my attention because I often struggle to show up as a creative, generous person in a polarized, authoritarian-leaning world. I want to practice facing fear, threat, and conflict without shutting down or falling into us-against-them thinking. I’m drawn to his suggestion that equanimity is a playful way of exploring experience with spontaneity and ease rather than trying to control or change it.

He writes that an equanimous person is ready to meet the world as it is, allowing awareness to open toward what is unexperienced or unknown. He adds that this flexible, wandering awareness “dissolves the excesses or extremes of dogmatism, certainty, and finality,” because narrowing our vision to select pieces of the world for praise or condemnation cuts us off from the liberating plurality of other possible points of view.

And don’t we all need that liberating plurality about now?

ARTICLE: Equanimity is Not Stillness – It is a Mobility of the Mind

RELATED ARTICLE: How to Use Equanimity to Help You Stay Calm in the Chaos

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Equanimity is something you do, not something you have; it is a lived way of moving through the world.

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