Equanimity, No Preferences, No Worries, Life Remains Challenging

     It's interesting how some of us worry about becoming equanimous and having no preferences. Much like patients who worry that antidepressants might be a "chemical straight-jacket", some meditators fear they're heading for a dull, monotone life. However, as we continue practicing, we find that our path is not at all linear, but more spiral or onion-layered. 
     As challenges (barriers, buttons, demons) keep revisiting us, they seem less and less coarsely daunting. But since our perception is becoming more refined, and our protective armoring thinner, we feel these challenges with the acute sensitivity of sunburned skin. At the same time, these same challenges become less and less overpowering. So somehow, we appreciate life's traumas even more fully than before, so they're very clearly happening, yet we're able to accept them more objectively.
     Very importantly, these are happening to all of us, not only to me. It's less and less about me suffering, and more and more about "there is suffering."
     As we gradually drop all defenses: magical thinking, avoidance, suppression, anger, hatred, catastrophization etc, we embrace reality like a rose, thorns and petals.

Photo: Steve McCurry   http://stevemccurry.com