Michael Uebel is a researcher affiliated with the Office of the Associate Dean for Research at the University of Texas at Austin, and a psychotherapist in the public sector and in private practice. His most recent book is Seeds of Equanimity: Knowing and Being (2025). Edited by Matt Huston To grasp the power of this lauded quality, think of it less as a mountain than as a flexible, even playful way of seeing How do you imagine ‘equanimity’ in yourself or others? Is it a sense of quiet calm, an evenness of temper or composure in the face of stressful situations? Maybe it marks someone who is unflappable, imperturbable? You might be said to have an equanimous spirit when you display steadfast inner stillness, a kind of serenity. In short, the motto ‘calm, cool and collected’ seems to do nicely as a summary of the received definition of equanimity. In the teachings and practices of mindfulness, developing equanimity has acquired a reputation as a way of mastering strong or disruptive experiences through emotional downregulation and equilibrium. Here, the emphasis is on inner strength, solidity, with the image of sitting like a mountain typically serving as an ideal. Meanwhile, current approaches to equanimity as a psychological construct construe it as a matter of weaker evaluative responses to things that normally produce stronger ones. For me, however, there was always something unsatisfying about the rather solemn view of equanimity as steadfastness ‘in the face’ of the world and its adversities (or the inner by Michael Uebel Equanimity is not stillness – it is a mobility of the mind 4/14/25, 5:18 PM Equanimity is not stillness – it is a mobility of the mind | Psyche Ideas https://psyche.co/ideas/equanimity-is-not-stillness-it-is-a-mobility-of-the-mind 1/6