A Buddhist Tool For Inner Peace

Using R.A.I.N. In Times Of Stress

I recently learned of a tool that Buddhist teachers and leaders started sharing several years ago. It’s an acronym style tool, that is part of a lesson in Mindfulness. It is said that more specifically, the Buddhist use this to focus on specific times of stress, when mindfulness techniques can get us back to a place not driven by emotions.

This tool is called the R.A.I.N. acronym and it was created to assist people who are having negative issues with intense, difficult, and overwhelming emotions. Let’s see just what words encompass this acronym, and see if we can come up with the same descriptions, and conclusions as its Buddhist creators did. We all have our own interpretations, and I’d like to share mine.

The first letter, R stands for Recognize what is happening. Now that point right there says a lot, and I believe it represents the core purpose of Mindfulness. When I hear that phrase, the first word that comes to my mind is awareness. Awareness is the deepest purpose of mindfulness. “Real time” awareness is a technique that once it’s mastered, our lives can have the potential to greatly improve.

The letter A in R.A.I.N. stands for Allow life to be just as it is. This too, connects back into acceptance. We must try to remember that acceptance does not have to mean we like something.

Accepting, and liking, are not necessarily the same thing.

When it comes to allowing life to be just as it is, we have a better chance of being able to be okay with who we are, and where we are in life. Even though, it isn’t perfection.

We can be able to learn how to love ourselves just the way we are, while being able to fix many shortcomings. However, life is never going to be a constant A+. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be happy with a B-. Accept that your journey is one of imperfections, while still having happiness.

Next there is letter I, which stands for Investigate inner experience. This one sounds pretty detailed and multi levelled. It didn’t sound like any lesson I had yet learned in my research, but I quickly realized it was something that I had been learning for a long time already.

When they say investigate, I believe they are talking about finding out the reason why. And then after that, finding solutions to things that may need some fixing. It can relate a lot to emotions, ones that we may have been dealing with for a long time now, yet we never realized why. Waking up every morning, feeling stressed, yet, we were allowing that to be, without deciding to determine what the root cause was behind those emotional roller coasters.

While we may teach many lessons on accepting, that doesn’t mean that we have to settle, and not work hard on finding out why certain things might be full of negativity and stress.

Now, the final step, letter N, stands for Non-identification. It may sound like something that’s very vague. I actually thought so too. I had to do a bit of extra research on what the Buddhist teachers meant with this one. It too, was something I was already working on.

First off, we are not our thoughts or emotions. We may be the acceptance and awareness of what we’re going through mentally. But that’s it.

Our emotions are not us.

The teachers meant for this part to be a lesson reminding us that we’re not identified by our emotions. They want to use this last letter as a way to initiate a sense of release. New found freedom. In the middle of emotional craziness, we can still be at a place of inner peace. Believe me, you can be.

Anybody remember the many times they saw phrases in my past writings that were along the lines of, “just because we think it, doesn’t mean it’s true.” Or, “our thoughts are not facts.” This is the exact place, for those words. That is what non-identification is meant to be for.

Like the many other acronyms, this one too, can be a great tool to look back on, when we are going through overwhelming and tough times. Read this again, when you’re going through stress. See if this tool, can reset you, anytime, you’re thrown out of place.

-End

By Michael Patanella

Michael Patanella is a Trenton, New Jersey Author, Publisher, Columnist and Recovering Addict, covering topics of mental health, addiction, sobriety, mindfulness, self-help, faith, spirituality, Smart Recovery, social advocacy, and many other motivational topics. His articles, memoirs and stories are geared towards being a voice for the voiceless. Helping others out there still struggling.