April Showers Bring May Flowers

So here we are: full pandemic fatigue, crazy things still happening in the world, disconnected, and a palpable amount of excitement for a vaccinated summer. Honestly, even if you don't want the vaccine or want it right now, these sites are probably the happiest places on earth! I had not seen or felt that much joy, in mass, in what feels like eons.

Whether or not the last few months have felt easier or harder for you, I thought it might be a good time to revisit the basics of body awareness. It seems so simple yet most of us forget to notice our body posture while we're writing that email and meeting that deadline. We miss the subtle cues our body tells us when we listen to a difficult story in the news. We have stopped noticing that we've stopped breathing all together.

So as the saying goes, "April showers bring May flowers." And if we want to start or continue growing that little seed of hope and connection with others, we have to remember what it is to connect to ourselves. This little phrase, RAIN, is a great method to quickly tap in. It stands for:

R econgize

A llow

I nvestigate

N urture

First we pause (maybe close our eyes if we need) to identify what is happening. For example, maybe a friend is sharing a difficulty in his/her life and we recognize a tightness in the chest, a disease in the stomach, or the hair beginning to stand up on the back of the neck. Then we allow. We allow the feeling to be there. So maybe as our friend tells us their story and instead of speaking - of offering advice - we stay still and let the bodily sensations have their moment. Third, we investigate. In this example that may be as simple as saying to yourself, "Wow. I never noticed I experience a lump in my throat when another speaks of this difficult thing. That's interesting!". It's important here that all we do is remain curious. There's no need to make sense of it.

And lastly, we nurture. We nurture the sensation through our curiosity and by giving it space to move through our bodies. Perhaps it's only momentary, but maybe it's also something we agree to come back to when we have more time so that we can look at ourselves compassionately. For example, maybe the conversation with your friend makes you realize your bodily response is connected to a past memory or experience that may or may not be related to what your friend is talking about. You may realize that this memory or experience needs more of your compassionate attention... to be felt through the body without judgement.

In practicing RAIN as often as possible, we give ourselves the opportunity to move through difficult sensations as well as expand the joyful, blissful, and loving ones.

Reconnect to you first and all else will fall into place soon.