Rebecca, Day 49 (still catching up!)

49. Develop equanimity. If every little thing that happens to you sends you into anger or stress, your life might never be simple. Learn to detach yourself, and be more at peace.

I've been reading The power of now : a guide to spiritual enlightenment (Eckhart Tolle), which is an odd but somehow brilliant book. I definitely understand why it's been critiqued as being a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. But from what I've read so far, one of its major arguments is that we should all develop detachment from emotional stressors (though Tolle doesn't phrase it that way). I've been mulling this over and using modifying some of his strategies to be a bit more peaceful about things.

For example, Tolle argues that your mind is not yourself, but we all get tricked into thinking that we are our minds. Okaaay, whatever. But his point is that sometimes, we can look critically at the course our thoughts are taking and take note of unhealthy ruts -- eg., being prompted by X to dwell on Y and feel Z.

The general idea self-awareness and stopping to recognize stress triggers seems a good way to develop equanimity.