Equanimity is a balance. We don't want, want, want. We don't hate, hate, hate. We are balanced. It is possibly one of the hardest things in the world to do, like walking on a tight rope, but the tight rope is not a rope, it is a piece of string. It is that hard. And one thing to watch out for with Equanimity is that it can actually be a problem, if we get too equanimous and it moves into indifferent. This is where Compassion is always important, it stops Equanimity from going into indifference.
One of the biggest things that helps our Equanimity is to understand the Law of Kamma in a broad sense, that each one of us is the owner of our own Kamma. When each one of you comes into the interviews with me or Rosemary, I'm sure you have thought that we care about you, and in fact you are the only person we care about during that time, we give you everything we can give which we think will help with your Dukkha in your life. The minute you get up and leave - next! We are done with you, you are finished, and we are ready for the next person, letting go of you and your problems so then we can be open for the next person and give them as much as we can. So we try to have Equanimity with each one of you with your own problems, but when we are with you and talking about your problems we care about you fully and you get our full attention.
So Equanimity wants to be able to be turned on until that person is done and they get on with their life. Social workers, doctors, nurses, anyone involved in the helping profession, if they don't have enough Equanimity, they will burn out. Then they have to retire, they have to quit, they have to get a new job because they can't get the balance, they are too attached to their clients, to their patients, and then they take their patients' problems home with them and on the weekends. They can do nothing but worry about their patients, during the night they worry about their patients and this and that. They haven't got enough Equanimity.
Another area of Equanimity which is important for all of you is with your family and friends. Most of your family and friends don't meditate, and a lot of them don't like you to meditate. And, a lot of them don't like the fact that you won't join them in some of their activities. You have to have Equanimity with that, too. That is part of the blame. What type of blame is that? As I mentioned yesterday, we will be giving a talk about the 8 worldly conditions, 8 worldly dhammas later in the retreat also, to help us have more Equanimity regarding people praising us, people blaming us, and that sort of thing. So Equanimity is very big throughout the whole practice.