Our thoughts and feelings are a river. What does this river look like? As we’ve discussed often, mindfulness means paying attention to the present moment, with intention. There are six skills involved in mindfulness. These are: Would these skills help you to recognize that your emotional states are simply processes of the mind? Would these skills help you to identify […]
Mindfulness – The River
Acceptance vs. Change
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.” -The Serenity Prayer of Reinhold Niebuhr Many of us are familiar with the Serenity Prayer. It deals with the dialectic of Acceptance vs. Change. This dialectic may be illustrated as follows: One of the skills […]
Being Effective
Mindfulness is the art of being effective. This simply means doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t work. As you continue to hone your ability to focus only on one thing at a time, this skill can be extended to problem-solving. When you become mindfully aware of a problem with the idea of solving it, you have […]
Fully Participating
Fully participating can be described as a state in which we are in the present moment, devoid of thoughts or anxiety about the past or the future. Fully participating is most closely associated with Baer’s “act with awareness” factor of the Five Factor Model of Mindfulness. To participate fully in any activity is to be aware in every moment, and […]
Mindful Describing
“Whatever you are doing, ask yourself, ‘What’s the state of my mind?’”– Dalai Lama, 1999 Mindful describing is a skill of mindfulness. Baer et al (2006) described five factors associated with mindfulness. These factors are: observe, describe, act with awareness, non-judge and non-react. These five factors can be measured by several instruments, and have been shown to be good predictors […]
Mindful Observing
Mindful Observing begins by learning to pay attention to an object. Any object will do. In fact, the more mundane the object is, the better for practicing observing skills. The idea of observing is to be entirely present in the moment with the object being observed, using all of the senses. If you can engage senses ordinarily not associated with […]
The “What” and “How” Skills
There are six skills of mindful awareness in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). They are divided up into “what” skills and “how” skills. The “what” skills are what you do to be mindful, and the “how” skills are how you do what you do to be mindful. This worksheet lists and briefly describes each of these skills. The “What” Skills of […]
Wise Mind
One of the skills we develop in the practice of mindfulness is the skill of acceptance. Acceptance allows us to experience emotions without feeling obligated to react to them. This is done by noting the emotion, and then letting go of the negative thought processes that the emotion generates. We can benefit from mindfulness by learning to accept the flood […]
Automatic Thinking
Learning to drive an automobile can be an overwhelming task. You have to focus on keeping the vehicle between the lines on the highway while watching for other cars, traffic signals and road signs. In addition to all of this, you must constantly glance at the speedometer to make sure that you are driving at a safe speed. You cannot […]
Mindful Acceptance
One of the skills we develop in the practice of mindfulness is the skill of ‘acceptance.’ Acceptance allows us to experience emotions without feeling obligated to react to them. This is done by noting the emotion, and then letting go of the negative thought processes that the emotion generates. We can benefit from Mindfulness by learning to accept the flood […]
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