Reading Mariechild Together: Leaving Behind the Flowers

"...[W]hen the mind acknowledges the truth of impermanence it relaxes into itself." So writes Diane Mariechild in today's reflection (Open Mind -- Women's Daily Inspiration for Becoming Mindful). A mind relaxed into itself finds equanimity, which happens to be one of my favorite Buddhist concepts.

Mariechild's final sentence today is, "The mind is balanced." This is the simplest way to state the meaning and effect of equanimity. We are released from worry and ego and fear into compassionate attention and acceptance.

I am reminded also of Matthew 6:8 -- "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They neither labor nor spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon was dressed like one of these." (New International Version)

With equanimity we cease to worry about laboring and spinning. Our minds accept life and its changes, its passages; we worry less about controlling it.

The flowers bloom and they always die. We accept the joy of the blooming and the sorrow of the death without holding on to either; without fleeing either.

 

We are balanced.


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