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Hi, this is Margaret Maloney, and welcome to the Death Dhamma Podcast. In a series I used to read, occasionally one character would say to the other, may you live in interesting times. It was understood that this was a curse, where interesting times meant chaos and difficulty. Well, we do live in interesting times. I mean, don't we always? So this season, together, we will explore equanimity and chaos, recognizing that many aspects of life are beyond our control. Let's find a sense of balance and peace amid external chaos. Hi, everyone. In our journey to learn about and practice equanimity. Today I'm bringing you something. I came across an article from Scientific American published back in 2023. It's written by J. David Cresswell. It's called learning to accept discomfort could help you thrive. And I'm not going to read you all of it, but I'm going to read you some of it, because it's basically, it is about equanimity. And so the author starts off by asking, you know, would you get a root canal or other, you know, major dental procedure without Novocaine? And he talks about how a colleague of his had a really painful, painfully exposed nerve in his tooth. And that person didn't ask for any kind of numbing or, you know, anesthesia. He used what he called a focus in meditation and directed all his attention to his mouth with as much calming equanimity as he could muster. Okay, so right away there, I admire him because I don't think I'm at that level, but so I think that's great. And that transformed the pain. And so that when the dentist touched the tooth where, you know, the nerve was exposed, this person, this man felt. He describes it as bubbles of joy and that it, you know, finally the dentist was asking him, like, why are you smiling? You know, you're getting a raw nerve, you know, worked on with no anesthesia. Why are you. Why are you smiling? And that's a great question to ask anyone who's in the middle of a painful experience, but being able to handle it and handle it with some kind of joy. Right? So what he's saying here is, like, something that sounds like a punishing choice to embrace suffering or distress could be helpful. And he's mentioned. And so this article is like an opinion piece with some research to it. And I'm not going to share all of the research with you. I mostly just want to kind of share with you his thoughts that he wrote from this. But so he's basically saying that, you know, there are benefits in turning toward discomfort or upsetting emotions with acceptance. We know that he's saying that, you know, from a more scientific perspective. We know that from our practice and the Dharma and what we're learning. He says all of us can gain from finding ways to cope with stress and unhappiness. Yes. Particularly when the circumstances are beyond our control. Yes. And we come to learn that just about everything is beyond our control, isn't it? And so again, the author here, J. David Cresswell, has also been studying meditation for 20 years. So he is all about the cultivation of equanimity. And he does see that that can help and, you know, especially when you make it central to a mindfulness practice. But first, he wants us to think about what does it mean to turn toward discomfort. So he's not saying, like, put yourself in something dangerous or horribly excruciating, but he's saying, like, when we push ourselves into challenging or discomfit, discomfiting situations, like, you know, if a trainer pushes you right, or you run farther than you usually run, exercise longer than you usually exercise, meditate longer than you usually meditate, you know, something that you go just past your comfort zone. That's when we make gains. That's when we learn. In fact, he does say a 2022 study involving more than 2,000 people demonstrated that participants who were encouraged to push themselves into awkward, uncomfortable situations across multiple domains, including taking improv classes. Yeah, I wouldn't love that. Maybe I would. I don't know, but it sounds uncomfortable to me. So taking improv to boost self confidence or reading about opposing political viewpoints, there you go. That's a difficult one for a lot of us, Right. The people who were pushed through that reported the greatest degree of personal growth. He mentions Another study from 2023 says that people who can face negative emotions such as sadness and anger in neutral ways, are more satisfied, are less anxious, and have fewer symptoms of depression than those who judge their negative feelings harshly. I do think that I've had the opportunity to experience some of that firsthand, not because I can always do it perfectly, but that I do understand how it feels to be able to accept something like that. And his study says it aligns with a consensus in psychology that suggests that we can learn powerful lessons about ourselves if we can sit with our emotions and thoughts with an open, curious mind. Well, I think that's how we are invited to sit and to meditate. Right? To sit with our emotions and our thoughts and watch them rising and falling and, you know, noticing are they Pleasant, unpleasant, neutral, and have that open, curious mind. He concludes this article by saying that his research indicates that meditation provides an ideal way to practice turning towards discomfort, particularly when it improves our equanimity. He's saying, you know, broadly that mindfulness meditation is a form of mental training that helps people focus on attending to the present moment in an open and receptive way. He describes equanimity as a mental attitude of being at peace with the push and pull of experience. I do appreciate that phrase, the push and pull of experience, because equanimity does require us to be active. Right. Actively noticing and watching and responding or finding a way to be at peace with the push and pull of experience. I'm very appreciative of that phrase. And then he talks about conducting in his laboratory, which, what was at Carnegie Mellon, several clinical trials on developing equanimity during mindfulness meditation training. He says this approach, you know, was guided meditation exercises such as matter of fact voice to label uncomfortable sensations in the body and welcoming uncomfortable feelings by saying yes each time a sensation is detected. And then he said, they recruited 153 stressed adults in Pittsburgh and offered them a mindfulness meditation training program. Some had training in equanimity, some did not. There was a mindfulness only group, and they built skills to recognize ongoing experiences. The equanimity group practice acceptance of those experiences. And the equanimity training group had much better outcomes. And after 14 days of training, they. Those who learned equanimity had lower biological stress responses. And so there's some of the benefits. Right. So we have lower physical stress responses, which is good for our body and mind. They had lower blood pressure and lower measurements of. I think it was cortisol, because he says, the hormonal stress levels. All right, so. And these people reported having higher positive emotions and more meaningful social interactions. And that is something that's really specific. And what to equanimity as well, when we can again, you know, respond to that push and pull, that we can have better interactions with others. And I'm. I'm saying this. He doesn't say this in his article. Sure. Because I'm not thinking that something or someone is good or bad. They just are. They just are. Right. He concludes this short article by saying we can each build resilience on a personal level by cultivating greater acceptance of our experience, good or bad, painful or pleasant, in the present moment. You've been listening to the Death Dhamma podcast with your host, Margaret Maloney. Thank you so much for being here. Come find me on margaretmaloney.com M A R G A R e T M e L o n I.com and until we meet again, may you be well, may you be happy, may you be at ease, and may you be free from suffering. Bye for now.