RAIN: A mindfulness practice

It was raining outside when I sat in my living room writing this blog. I quite like the rain as it triggers some interesting emotions in me. I see it as the natural manifestation of the ability to let go and wash things away. I recently came across this mindfulness exercise called RAIN which is an acronym used to describe a practice that can be useful to wash away emotional confusion and suffering.

R stands for RECOGNISE: you need to become aware of the emotion you are experiencing to be able to deal with it, for example if someone annoys you, become aware that it is happening.

A stands for ACKNOWLEDGE: once you have recognised the feeling, you allow it to be there, by surrendering to it with no judgement. You become present in its presence.

I stands for INVESTIGATE: keeping an open-minded approach, you can now begin to explore your emotion and ask yourself questions about it e.g. what has triggered it, why am I feeling it, why do I want to react to it, etc.

N stands for NON-IDENTIFY: you are not your emotions so in this last step you consciously work towards accepting the feeling for what it is but without allowing it to define yourself e.g. if you are angry for some reason, recognise what triggered that feeling but separate yourself from it, making sure you don’t spiral into a pattern of telling yourself that you are an angry person (observing rather than judging).

I find this exercise quite powerful as it encourages compassion towards ourselves and eventually others. Give it a go and let me know how you get on!