UVic Stillness Within Meetup on July 25th – Cultivating Equanimity

We had a fun time with this virtual get together in July – five of us looked at some practices that may prove useful in reducing stress, increasing a sense of well-being and strengthening overall emotional resilience. We listened to a few video clips including a guided excerpt from Rick Hanson’s “Meditations for Happiness”.  The group shared some of their own strategies such as reframing challenges as opportunities to grow and evolve ourselves.  We also talked about Lester Levenson’s story – a man who discovered that his key to enduring peace and happiness was to find love within every relationship… and to use his own form of personal inquiry to see what might be in the way of love fully expressing.

Krishnamurti points to love as a wellspring of deep inner peace and comfort as well:

“The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed.”

On the other hand, K. often can pose some fun, almost opposite points of view, depending on the context of what he is trying to get across.  Here he suggests that happiness is not something to be pursued:

“Happiness is strange; it comes when you are not seeking it. When you are not making an effort to be happy, then unexpectedly, mysteriously, happiness is there, born of purity, of a loveliness of being.”

Whether we can or can’t bring about our own deep joy and peace could be debated at length.  Still, it’s really a joy to gather, to share our inspirations and challenges and to let the stories fall away for a spell, just to be.

Thanks to the KECC for supporting this enriching meetup!