Equanimity

Life gurgles out with loud cries, googoos and gaagaas, prattles and giggles, bubbles bursting through gibberish, squeals puffed with innocence, endless chatters, parakeet-like babbles, and formless words wrapped in meaningful noise.

Meaning makes its entry as noise shapes into words, words into sentences, sentences into thoughts, thoughts into emotions. With words to carve understanding, emotions still splurge. Unbridled are the giggles, the open-mouthed laughs, the drool dripping screams and hair-raising excitement. And as sharply distinct is the pain, pierced with loud wails, unabashed tears and curses, laments carrying emotions - rich, sincere and simple.

At the peak of the Bell Curve, happiness and pain are picked out with stark demarcation. There are gleeful smiles, the racing of the heart, the little jumps, the clapping of excited hands, and the dreams of a perfect future, as the world celebrates your happiness. When pain grips you, when life refuses to budge to your pleas on the many unpleasant turns, the world looks on you as if you were a centipede crawling on its nerves. The emotions are intensely raw; the difference between dark and light.

Lessons are learned... nay they sometimes get stuffed into you. And the descent from the curve's peak is initiated. You roll with the punches, aware that gravity, or a force of nature beyond your control will eventually get you to the bottom of something. Faced with an inevitability, you prepare yourself through the arduous roll to either limp with your bruises, or remain crawled under your broken limbs. No matter what, emotions nullify each other. When you finally crash, your body disappears, and you stare at emptiness. There is no happiness that you escaped with just bruises, nor is there pain that you are shattered beyond repair. The differences melt away, leaving you acutely aware that you're void of emotions.

Finally. Equanimity is attained at the bottom of the cliff. The serene smile of acceptance dawns.

Nonplussed perhaps, to whisper a thank you to the Universe and its causal scheme, which did prevail over a muddled battle of wills. That faith can indeed get you to the bottom of a rocky tumble with only broken bones and scrapes which can heal over time, is a semblance of understanding glinting through the shades of equanimity.