How To Get Out Of Your Own Way in 4 Steps (RAIN)

Stop Self Sabotaging and Get Out of Your Own Way!

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If we are going to improve and get 1% better everyday then we are going to have to make changes. As Jim Rohn says "if we keep doing what we've done we'll keep getting what we've got.

If we've decided that there's something about our life that we're unhappy with and we want to improve, it's going to mean making some new choices.

Creating New Habits...

If we're going to improve our Life then we are going to have to improve our habits. Sometimes we can Self Sabotage our own progress with stories about ourselves that aren't actually true.

No matter how tough we are, the fear of the unknown always creeps up and we can end up getting in our own way. Sometimes we can start telling ourselves some stories about ourselves that aren't actually true.

We can start repeating them to ourselves over and over again in our head until we actually start believing it.

The Amygdala...

Where does this natural response of fear that shows up like a knee jerk reaction come from? The Amygdala is our fear center and its there for great reason...It's responsible for keeping us alive. Sometimes it works a little bit too hard and we can fear ourselves out of the way of taking chances and learning new habits, building new things in our lives that can help us grow into another person.

We start fearing that somehow we just don't deserve it, or it'll never come true or we'll work that hard and it'll never actually happen. We're either too much of this or not enough of that...

How do we change?

Michele McDonald developed a practice for this called R.A.I.N.  Recognize, Allow, Investigate, and Non-Identification.

First we aim to Recognize what's really happening.

Consciously acknowledge what's happening. What are the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are affecting us?

Then we choose to allow what's happening to exist as it is.

We simply let the thoughts, feelings, or sensations to be there.

Next we investigate what's happening with genuine interest.

Our natural curiosity is allowed to take over and we focus more attention to our present experience.

Finally we non-identify with what's happening by asking ourselves, "Is this happening to 'me,' or is it simply happening?"

Our identification of the small self is loosened and our natural awareness releases the infusions limiting emotions, sensations and/or stories.

Conclusion

We are not our thoughts and we DO NOT have to continue to Self Sabotage our success. Our first step is to be aware of the stories we repeatedly tell our selves. Using the tool of RAIN we can get out of our own way and begin building to the habits that allow us to live successful and fulfilled lives.

Feel free to read further by checking out this article from the August 2014 issue of Mindful magazine.