February 4, 202012:03 AM ET | By Allison Aubrey for NPR
Have you ever noticed
how tough it is to be focused and present? Our minds spend so much time planning and worrying about the future and too often dwelling on the past.
“We’re in a trance of thinking. We’re time traveling.”
”We’re in the future, we’re in the past.””
All of this stuff gets in the way of enjoying life to the fullest.
If you reflect on your life, how often do you find yourself thinking into a feeling of fear or not being good enough? In some way, it distracted you and pulled you away from real intimacy or spontaneity or enjoying a sunset.
Life kit host "Allison Aubrey" Spoke with Brach about her latest book, Radical Compassion: Learning to Love Yourself and Your World with the Practice of RAIN. The book outlines the mindfulness tool, RAIN, an acronym for a four-step process:
RECOGNIZE, ALLOW, INVESTIGATE, and NURTURE
“After RAIN, we can sense a shift in how we feel. We sense the quality of presence that’s opened up from where we started to now.
The thing with RAIN, it doesn’t get rid of the waves of experience. It makes you more ocean-like. You have more perspective, more wisdom. Wisdom brings on humor. Wisdom brings on kindness. In other words, you’re not suffering. What you’re feeling is not pleasant, but you’re not suffering.””
Learn about RAIN and read interview excerpts here!
BONUS LINK: Here is another interview with Tara Brach from 2019 with more about the RAIN meditation at Mindful.org!
