Demystifying Mindfulness: The What Skills

With stress levels through the roof, we could all benefit from mindfulness. This season of A Therapist Takes Her Own Advice is all about making mindfulness understandable and accessible to everyone.

In today's episode, David and I are talking about the DBT What Skills. These skills outline what to do to become more mindful. They are Observe, Describe and Participate.

Observe is noticing without pushing away or clinging to anything. We observe our external environment through our 5 senses: sight, smell, sound, taste and touch. We observe our internal world by noticing thoughts, emotions and sensations in the body.

Describing is simply adding words to what we observe. If we can't observe it we can't describe it. We describe without criticism or adding to reality. We can't observe the thoughts, feelings, interpretations or motivations of other people so we can't describe them.

Participating is entering into an activity wholeheartedly without self-consciousness. When we participate we are one with what we are doing. If observing and describing are the rehearsal, participating is the performance.

Thanks so much for your support of A Therapist Takes Her Own Advice. If you connected with what you heard here, and you want to work with me, go to my website, rebekahshackney.com and send a message through my contact page. And if you have enjoyed what you’ve heard here, please subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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