Mindfulness Daily Check-in July 16
Hello everyone! Welcome to the Mindfulness Check-in. I hope you're doing well.
Taking Hold of Your Mind: What Skills: Observing, Describing, and Participating
Core mindfulness skills are the foundation of all Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) skills training. The problems addressed by core mindfulness skills are knowing who you are, where you are going in your life, and the inability to control what goes on in your mind. These mindfulness skills are of two basic types What and How skills. The What skills refer to ways of practicing thinking or what you do to take control of your mind. Observing and Describing are most useful when new behavior is being learned, there is some sort of problem, or a change is necessary. Mindfulness skills apply to emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness, too.
Observing
Observing is sensing or experiencing without describing or labeling the experience. It is noticing or attending to something. The benefit of this practice is that the mind becomes quiet. Eventually, you will be able to observe things without a running commentary of a talkative mind. Preoccupation, rumination, distraction, and daydreaming are all examples of a talkative mind. Just notice the Experience. Notice without getting caught in the experience. Experience without reacting to your experience. Allow yourself to experience with awareness, in the moment, whatever is happening. Pay attention to your experience.
Describing
Put words on the experience. When a feeling or thought arises, or you do something, acknowledge it. Describing is using words to represent what you observe. Observing is just noticing and attending; there are no words. Describing is a reaction to observing; it is labeling what is observed. Such acknowledgement is an expressed recognition of your experience. For example, say in your mind, Sadness has just enveloped me or stomach muscles tightening or walking, step, step, step. Describing is using words to represent what you observe. Describing is just the facts. The ability to apply names to behavioral and environmental events is essential for both communication and self-control. Learning to describe requires that you learn not to take your emotions and thoughts literally – that is, as a literal reflection of environmental events. Feeling afraid does not necessarily mean that a situation is threatening to your life or welfare.
Participating
Enter into your experiences whole-heartedly. Let yourself get involved in the moment, letting go of ruminating and self-consciousness (no separation of self from on-going events and interactions). Become one with your experience, completely forgetting yourself. Act intuitively from Wise Mind. Do just what is needed in each situation – a skillful dancer on the dance floor, one with the music and partner, neither willful or sitting on your hands. Actively practice your skills as you learn them until they become part of you, where you use them without self-consciousness. Participating is entering wholly into an activity, becoming one with the activity. It is throwing yourself into something completely. It is spontaneous behavior to a certain extent, although you can also do it mindfully.
Observing and describing help us understand and improve things. Participating is the ultimate goal as one engages in activities non-self consciously. Accept challenges and problems as part of life. Make changes as necessary to improve long-term consequences. Engage Wise Mind in the on-going practice.
Please let us know how you are using: Taking Hold of Your Mind: What Skills: Observing, Describing, and Participating.
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@DanaMH thank you for this concise summary of what we do in mindfulness. It really helps me clarify things in my mind.
You asked: Please let us know how you are using:
Taking Hold of Your Mind: What Skills: Rather than think oh no I am anxious and bad things may happen to me I can say okay what skills can I call on to help me feel stable again.
Observing, We do this often in Mindfulness discussions where I ask people to tell 3-4 things they hear, smell, taste or sense. I omit seeing because we are way too sight dependent and it is challenging to use the other senses to observe.
Describing, I call this self talk because it is talking about what is happening in my body "it is hard to breath", describing or labelling my thoughts "angry thought" "sad feeling"
and Participating. Okay what I can do is play a word game, do exercise classes, take a shower or mow the lawn. These all help me be more aware of what is happening in my immediate environment.
@soulsings
That is great that you have a toolbox of different skills that you can pull from to feel stable again.
For observing and mindfulness we do need to remember all 5 of our sensus since some folks like to count like lights or floor tiles or something else to help them when they are anxious.
Those are great participating skills and also help to cope during the day.
@DanaMH
Hiya Dana thank you for this wonderful check in
I just like to observe things, but then also describe. When I do both of them I feel Im fully doing mindfulness and I am not distracted!
@RumpleSteeleSkin
That is so great that you know what skills you need to cope so you aren't distracted.
@DanaMH
Thank you for sharing this... I'm still learning so much. I try to observe every day, whether it is my breath, or walking, or typing, or anything else! I know I need more practice in the describing and participation areas.
@goldentown96
Thanks for checking in and starting to use your 5 senses. Keep up the good work.
@DanaMH Hi Dana! 
How are you doing today? I hope you are having a wonderful day so far! 
This is such a wonderful post and so informative, so thank you for that!!! I observe my surroundings, especially nature, and describe how I feel by thinking of the emotions that arise as well as what appealed to me specifically in order to bring arise such feelings. I participate everyday, multiple times a day, by doing this.
@SaimaK
I am doing good thanks for asking. :) You are very welcome!
That is great that you do this multiple times a day. I also like nature and I like the sping time when things start to grow and the fall when the leaves change to so many pretty colors.
@DanaMH I am so glad to hear that! Thank you so much! I also love Spring and Fall. Winter is quite beautiful as well when the trees and mountains are covered with snow. It makes long drives even more wonderful.
@DanaMH
Wow Dana, this is a great post and so informative!
I found one statement you made very important: Accept challenges and problems as part of your life. Challenges/problems will always be there, it is not that there is just one in our lives, they will keep coming so acceptance will change their appearance to something more "normal" and also create confidence. Thank you for this post.
@amiablePeace77
Your welcome and glad you found it useful.
