Place it comfortably in a quiet place.
With the spine up tall,
Close your eyes and bring your attention to the breath.
Breathe quietly and patiently in and out through the nose.
Recall that equanimity arises through continued mindfulness.
Be mindful right here and right now of sensations in the body.
Be mindful here and now of movement or changes in the breath.
Be mindful always of the activity of the mind itself.
Make a commitment to stay mindful on the body,
Breath and mind in each moment as you contemplate the following pairs of words.
The first pair of words are praise and blame.
Praise and blame.
Recall the reactions in your body or your mind when someone compliments you.
In what ways do compliments throw you off balance?
And what would it feel like to receive a compliment yet remaining stable in body,
Breath and mind?
And how about criticism?
In what ways do you lose your balanced state of mind?
Is it possible to receive criticism with mindfulness and undisturbed?
How does your body respond to praise and how does it respond to blame?
Be present with the sensations that arises as you sit with the concept of praise and blame for a moment.
Be present with the sensations that arises as you sit with the concept of praise and blame for a moment.
And now contemplate gain and loss.
What happens in body and mind when you reflect upon gain and loss?
Do you feel pushed or pulled in any one direction?
Reflect briefly upon an experience where you got exactly what you wanted.
Or recall an experience where you lost something dear to you.
What would it feel like to hold space equally for both the happiness and the suffering?
What it might be like to extend warmth and love equally to your gains and your losses and to all the emotions that these two things evoke.
And then think of the experiences of pleasure and pain.
What happens in your mind?
What happens in your mind?
Are you aware of an attachment to pleasure and aversion to pain?
Or maybe in some ways,
Do you avoid pleasure and grasp to your pain?
What would it feel like in your body to equally welcome all sensations?
To allow for the fullness of your human experience to manifest without attachment to any of it.
Take a moment to dwell in that feeling of equanimity.
And then turn your attention back to your seat,
Back to the connection between your hips,
Your legs or your feet in the earth.
Turn attention back to the steadiness and the ease of your breath.
And with every exhalation,
Feel even more grounded,
More rooted and stable,
Like an old tree in the forest.
You are firmly rooted.
Your strong foundation has grown over time.
All is welcome.
You can remain stable and grounded,
Rooted in your own awareness.
Awareness as the home base from which you grow.
You are stable,
Balanced,
Strong and free.
