Tara Brach - Guided Reflection: The RAIN of Compassion – What Is It Like to Be You

Episode Date: September 10, 2020

Guided Reflection: The RAIN of Compassion – What Is It Like to Be You - Compassion is hard wired in our organism, and can be cultivated. We have the capacity for affiliative care, to tune into each other and to hold each other in our hearts. Developing this innate potential is the hope of our world. Using the acronym R-A-I-N (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture), this meditation offers guidance in mindfully attuning to the emotional experience of others and awakening our natural tenderness and care.

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. So I invite you to close your eyes for a moment and I'm going to be guiding you in a very brief taste of a meditation I call the reign of compassion and I invite you to, on your own, and take the time to drop into it more fully.

Sit in a way that allows you to be relaxed and alert. And scan your body, see if you can let go of any habitual tension you might be carrying. Take a few full breaths and let your mind settle. You like to invite you to scan through family members or friends who are close to you and choose someone you know who's having a difficult time. a difficult time. Connect with your intention to awaken compassion toward this person. The beginning of rain is to simply recognize what most calls your attention about their challenges.

You might be remembering a mood that they're infrequently or some way they appear or tone in recent communications. Just begin by letting yourself recognize, oh, this person's having a hard time, this is how I know it. And with that recognizing allow, so allow that experience to be just as it is, it's like you're willingly pausing with the situation. We begin to investigate what's it like being you with real gentleness. So bring your curiosity and your interest. interest as you attend more closely to what this person might be experiencing.

You might imagine feeling with their heart and viewing the world from their perspective. You can make some inquiry asking yourself these questions as if you're the person like what life circumstances are most distressing to you? What do you imagine? What's most distressing for this person? What are the particular fears or disappointments or hurts this person's caring? Maybe as you're being mindful and empathetic you can sense what they're believing about themselves in their life.

What's the belief? Are they feeling like a failure, feeling rejected, insecure, uncertain, and sense if you can feel and imagine how whatever emotions are strongest are living in them, maybe how they're living with fear or hurt or anger. And it feels like too much at any point just to use that noting to name the feelings and sense you don't have to be the sink, you can be like the lake. Just let it be held in a mindful witnessing way. And you sense where the person feels most vulnerable and you might even ask, you know,

what is it that you most need? What do I think this person most needs? Maybe from themselves or from others. And if at any point as you're investigating you find yourself reacting, then you shift and bring mindfulness and compassion to your own reaction, naming it. offering care to it. So sensing in, what is this person most need? Because this is what leads to nurture.

This is how mindful empathy you've been feeling with turns into compassion, keeping this person and their vulnerability in your heart. Expand your awareness your whole body, sense the sounds around you, the space around you. you might sense your future self, your most awake heart and that this being is part of you and you can offer what's needed inwardly to this part of you, this being, is it acceptance? Does this person need acceptance, need to feel held, forgiven, companionship, understanding? Notice what happens when you actively know.

nurture this person in your heart. You can send it energetically like a flow of warmth or maybe have an image of them and sense that you're holding them or I sometimes imagine kissing the person on the brow or send words, a message of care. The words can be very important. It could be as simple as I'm sorry and I love you. this person receiving and letting in your care, envision them as healing, as happy, as well. You might enlarge the field now to sense all of those people you can imagine who are

in the same situation as this person and that you can sense your heart space as infinitely vast so that you're really holding and sending nurturing to all of those who are having the same struggle. If this person's grieving a loss, then you're connecting with and offering care to all those grieving loss. And if this person feels like a failure, you're connecting with all those who feel like a failure and offering care. You might sense the willingness of your heart to be touched by pain.

You can feel as if you're breathing in and letting yourself be touched and then breathing out and offering your blessings and care to all beings who are suffering. And letting go of all ideas of others, just notice the quality of tenderness and presence and spaciousness that's right here. Let go and rest in that open heart space, sensing the beingness that's right here that's home. This is called After the Rain, After the Rain of Compassion, just rest in heart-ness. and heart space. Namaste and blessings.