In the last few years, meditation and compassion have been in the foreground of many conversations in the spiritual, health and more recently business world. These two words encompass so much material and complexity that it can be daunting, and even overwhelming to think of including them in our daily well-being routines.
For those who are curious but don’t know where or how to start, I recently found a very simple and practical tool to approach mindfulness and compassion practices. It only requires you to remember the acronym “RAIN” and follow these four steps:
Recognise what is happening;
Allow the experience to be there, just as it is;
Investigate with interest and care;
Nurture with self-compassion.
Recognise - involves pausing and recognising that something needs our attention. It is usually a feeling.
E.g. feeling anger when interrupted by a colleague.
Allow - asks us to let the feeling or the experience be as it is presented. Let it unfould.
E.g. take an observer perspective of what is happening without judgement.
Investigate - calls us to follow with curiosity what is happening in our body or in ourselves. Usually there is an underlying belief that calls for attention.
E.g. I feel I am being interrupted because I am the youngest person in the room.
Nurture - embracing the situation with a message of kindness and trust, in ourselves and others. Putting the hand in the heart or breathing can create a soothing effect in the sympathetic nervous system.
E.g. I am enough and what I have to say is valuable.
And if this is too much to remember in the moment, thinking of “rain” or calming water may do the trick!
References & going deeper:
Tara Brach. Website resources - RAIN: Recognise, Allow, Investigate Nurture
Dr. Laurie Santos & Tara Brach. Podcast - The Happiness Lab. Reconnect with the moment