The world is full of losses we can’t stop and joys we can’t keep.  We may pour our whole heart into helping our teenager get off drugs, then watch him spiral back into addiction.  We may spend 10 years fighting to save a coastal wetland, then watch it get signed over to developers.  At its highest  level, upekkha can help us  stay centered in the midst of all of these experiences—to savor life’s joys without clinging to them and to open to life’s sorrows without pushing them away.

In Buddhist Literature, upekkha is often compared with the attitude of a mother who lets go of controlling her children as they grow up—continuing to support them and wish them well but recognizing that their choices are theirs to make,  good or bad.  This image particularly spoke to me that first week of preschool, when o got a tiny taste of how hard such a task could be.