Equanimity is the ability to allow a sensory perception to play out without trying to change it. It’s an attentional skill you already have that gets stronger when you exercise it habitually.

Everyone is already mindful, but we could all use a little more practice.

I'm not a snob about contemplative practice. I see zero shame in scrolling through Instagram during moments like these. I'm not trying to maintain monastic levels of composure throughout the day.

I just decided to explore what would happen if I fell back on what has proved paradoxically comforting in the past when waiting for potentially terrible news.

“Mindfulness is about stepping outside yourself, looking at yourself, and knowing that it’s going to be okay.”

Dr. Jeffrey Smith

Mindfulness doesn’t provide some kind of magical exemption from discomfort. Not at all. It's actually the opposite. It means when practiced consistently—with or without meditation—we can sometimes change the degree to which we fight against some present discomfort.

"Although emotional sensations can arise anywhere in the body, they are much more likely to arise in the belly, chest, throat, or face. These are the emotional hotspots in the body, the regions where emotional sensations can get huge. That means that other areas are much less likely to host gigantic emotional sensations, which turns out to be a useful and convenient thing."

Michael Taft