If you look out at a tree on a windy day what you will notice is that some of the tree will be moving — the leaves, the smaller branches, will be swaying with the wind. But at the core, the tree is solid and steady. No matter how strong the wind is, the roots are unshakable and the tree stays grounded.
This image is often used in the mindfulness teachings to help us understand what we are trying to cultivate through our practice — the ability to stay steady and strong, regardless of what is happening. This quality and mind state is called upekka or equanimity.
It can difficult for a human being to feel steady. We live in a world that is incredibly uncertain and one of the few things in life that we can be sure of, is that things change — at any moment, usually when we least expect, or want it.
In Buddhism it is said that at any point we are facing one of the eight worldly winds, or as I like to think of them, lifes ups and down — praise and blame, success and failure, pleasure and pain, gain and loss. Day to day, week to week, year to year, we are simply swaying in these winds.
When we don’t have that quality of steadiness, it can often feel like we are being totally pushed around by whatever is happening. The constant changes feel relentless and painful, and we live with so much fear and anxiety about what might be hiding around the next corner.
One of the hardest parts of our practice, and our life, is learning to accept change. To know that there will always be some wind. Sometimes it will be strong and other times it will be light. Sometimes life will feel amazing and other times it will feel terrible, and instead of fighting and struggling against this, the challenge really lies in learning to move with it. Learning to surrender and remember, that whatever we are facing right now won’t last.
Being able to live deeply in this wisdom creates the possibility to find peace amongst the chaos — and this is true equanimity.
So wherever this note finds you, whatever challenge or change you might be going through, maybe you feel a bit wobbly or like you’ve completely fallen over — think of the tree. Remember how much strength you have within you and trust that eventually, inevitably, the wind will change.
