One of the biggest ways of developing Equanimity whether it is in daily life or in retreat is the reflection on impermanence. I can't stress that enough. It is all passing. You sit down to eat your meal, and oh, wow, this is great, yum, yum, yum and all of a sudden you realize you are being caught up in desire. So do you want to be equanimous or not? If you do want to be more equanimous then think to yourself, what am I doing? This is going to pass. Why should I be so excited about this food, it is going to pass. You are eating a meal that is absolutely terrible and you are starting to have aversion. Where is that food going to be in 30 minutes? Really think about this. Thirty minutes after you have had a meal, how many people are actually still enjoying the meal? How many people are still angry at the meal? Surely, there may be one or two, but generally we have forgotten. Generally we have forgotten totally about the meal, it is gone. We are busy washing our laundry, we are busy having a sleep, we are busy doing anything else but we are not worried about the food, it is gone.
When you are caught in a state of mind that is liking, disliking, whatever, ask yourself - where is this moment going to be tomorrow, where is this moment going to be next year? It really puts things into proper perceptive so that we are not that caught up in our emotions, it is all going to pass, it is all going to pass.
Now we don't want to use this reflection in order to get sad. Some people they are having a nice time, I mean, you are doing your meditation, everything is very well, you are feeling very good about the whole thing, and then your mind goes, "Yes, but it is all impermanent." That was a hit on the head, wasn't it? No, we don't want to do it that way, take joy with your Dhamma practice, that is quite all right, but being greedy in your normal life, desiring your food or whatever it is, that is different. If you want to have more equanimity in your normal life, the key way is to reflect on impermanence.