Equanimity rests on the confidence that as long as you put in positive energy with positive intentions, positive results will have to come out at some point.

"So equanimity means realizing that when things can’t be forced, you’ve got to step back. Whatever you can’t control, you let it take its own time, to develop or go away at its own pace. You focus your efforts instead on the skillfulness of your present intentions, which may require patience and equanimity, doing your best to put as much positive energy into the situation, and not getting upset because the results are not immediate. The important point is that you be secure in your confidence that as long as you put in positive energy, there will have to be positive results — if not right now, then someplace down the line. That’s what you control, the fact that you’re putting in positive energy, putting in skillful intentions right now. As for when these things will bear fruit, that’s up to them, that’s up to the jagged rhythm in the whole mix of your karma.

So it’s important that you understand what equanimity means. It doesn’t mean that you’re totally non-reactive to everything, that you’re just a piece of wood lying around that doesn’t react. In Pali poetry, a piece of wood just lying around is a symbol of a person who’s dead. No, equanimity means that you’re selective in where you focus your energies, learning how to accept the things you can’t change and work on the things you can. In this way your desire for happiness, both for yourself and other people, doesn’t turn into suffering.

We all want happiness. Our problem is that many times we want it faster than it can come. In cases like that, if we don’t learn to develop patience and equanimity, we’re going to suffer. This is why equanimity is such an important part of those four sublime attitudes. It keeps them grounded in reality. We’re not just sitting around thinking nice thoughts and hoping that simply the power of nice thoughts is going to give immediate results. Sometimes the rhythm of karma is such that they do give immediate results. Sometimes it’s not that way at all. It’s going to take awhile.

Equanimity rests on the confidence that as long as you put in positive energy with positive intentions, positive results will have to come out at some point. So it’s important that that’s what you’re careful about: the intentions you’re putting into the whole process right now, making sure that they’re skillful, not being pushed around by greed, or anger, delusion, impatience, or fear. Try to take nourishment from your confidence in the principle of karma, in the principle of action: that skillful actions will lead to good results. Maybe you can’t get the results you want right now, but you can put in good energy right now. Try to develop as much skillfulness in your attitude as you can. That’s what’s important. That’s what we’re trying to develop as we meditate. Remember, the word for meditation in Pali is development. We’re trying to develop skillful attitudes, skillful intentions. Focus your energy there."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Rhythm of Kamma"

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