In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius wrote to himself:
“When force of circumstance upsets your equanimity, lose no time in recovering your self-control, and do not remain out of tune longer than you can help. Habitual recurrence to the harmony will increase your mastery of it.”
On the Heroic App, Brian Johnson tells us:
“(Now, remember: This was an emperor writing down a reminder for himself—he NEVER intended to publish those words. I find that incredibly inspiring.) I call that The Equanimity Game. When you (inevitably!) get knocked down, make it a game to see how fast you can recover. Practicing it often makes you really good at it… When (Note: Not ‘If’ but ‘WHEN’) you get knocked down today, see how fast you can get back up. It’s all one big game. Let’s play it well!”
My daughter often loses her equanimity. I always remind her to play the equanimity game, and I model the way by playing the game when I lose my equanimity.
The last 1-5 minutes were “not like me!” or “needs work.” Now, I am going to play the equanimity game.
