DBTuesday: Mindfulness and how to access your WISE MIND
Heya everyone! We’re back for another DBTuesday and today we’re going to focus on mindfulness.
DBT includes a lot of active skills that you can use in specific situations (that you can find here), whereas mindfulness acts a lot more like a foundation enabling these other skills to be fully effective.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the intentional awareness of the present moment, including your external surroundings but also your internal state of being and feelings, without any judgment. This can help focus on the present and thus reduce stress, anxiety and increase calm and gratitude. The goal with mindfulness is to help us access our “wise mind”.
What is the “wise mind”?
The wise mind is an ideal and peaceful state of mind where you’re able to pay attention both to your rational mind (your head) and your emotional mind (your heart) so as to have a complete view of the situation and make the best decisions for yourself. Taking a decision only with the heart might end up being a bad decision just as taking a completely logical decision might end up making us feel bad. This is why it’s so important to have information both from our head and our heart to make the best decisions.
How to be mindful?
WHAT skill or how to enter a state of mindfulness -
Observe your surroundings through your five senses: what do you feel, hear, feel, smell, taste? Observe everything happening around you and inside you without giving any judgment.
Describe your observations using sentences, again without adding any judgment. (Be patient with yourself though as it can be a tough exercise!) For example: I hear my family talking in the kitchen, I notice a tingling sensation in my feet.
Participate in the moment, if possible and provided that the situation is safe. Using my last example, a way to participate would be to go join the discussion with my family.
HOW skill or how to act once in a state of mindfulness -
Don’t judge, try to approach things with kindness and openness. Simply notice your thoughts, sensations and observations, let them come and go as clouds passing by.
Stay focused on the mindfulness practice. If you notice that your mind has started to wander elsewhere, it’s okay, just try to gently guide yourself back to your mindfulness exercise. It can be helpful to set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes so that you know that during these minutes, your attention will stay focused.
Do what works for you. There is no right or wrong way to practice mindfulness, the goal is for you to find what works best for you, which might not be what works for others but it doesn’t mean that you’re doing anything wrong. Some might prefer focusing only on one sense, some to all of their senses, some will focus on their breathing, whatever works best for you is the right way!
Mindfulness exercises -
Mindfulness is like sports: it’s okay to start small and practice slowly, being gentle with yourself if you’re not there yet. <3 Here are some suggestions of exercises to try out if you want some:
- Body scan: scan your body starting from your toes and slowly going up, feel your body parts one after another without giving any judgment.
- Mindful breathing: try to picture the flow or air coming through your nose, inside your lungs and getting expelled. Another breathing exercise is to count your breaths, ether counting the times you breathe in/out or counting the seconds, whichever works best!
- Five senses exercises: around you, notice 5 things you can see, 4 things you can feel, 3 things you can hear, two things you can smell, one thing you can taste.
- Mindful seeing: watch your surroundings, notice the colors, patterns, textures, movements, rather than the objects.
- Guided meditation videos/audios on youtube or 7cups.
Discussion questions ~
Do you think this skill could be helpful for you?
Do you usually take decisions based on your rational (head) or emotional (heart) mind? Or both?
Do you sometimes practice mindfulness exercises? (breathing, guided meditation…) If yes, how does it make you feel?
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@LinearWaves
1. Do you think this skill could be helpful for you?
Yes
2. Do you usually take decisions based on your rational (head) or emotional (heart) mind? Or both?
I try to make decisions based on both, but I don’t always.
3. Do you sometimes practice mindfulness exercises? (breathing, guided meditation…) If yes, how does it make you feel?
I love mindfulness exercises.I sometimes do deep breathing and every day I meditate.Some of my meditations are guided.It makes me feel a part of my surroundings.
@purpleTree4652
Hey there ! It’s good to hear you try to take decisions based both on your head and heart, even if it’s not always the case!
It’s also great to hear you practice mindfulness exercises, thanks for sharing them! Do you feel they help you?
@LinearWaves, yes, the mindfulness exercises are helpful.
I find this skill very useful.
I tend to react based on my emotions at the time but I'm learning to take a breath and analyze it from a different perspective.
I find mindfulness is very helpful when I'm feeling anxious or depressed. I try to practice yoga regularly and I always notice my breath beforehand and then after. Sometimes I tend to hold my breath and I've learned to slow it down and relax my body. It's amazing the difference just proper breathing makes.
@MeeshyRB
Hey there ! It’s great to hear you’ve been learning to take a breath and analyze the situation from a different perspective ! It’s always good to have a global view of a situation so as to take the best decision possible!
Thanks for sharing your exercises! Breathing is really powerful when used well, I’m still learning that!
Yes I do think this skill could be useful to me. I want to try the body scan, five senses exercise , and mindful seeing. I usually make decisions based on emotional mind the majority of the time. I have not practiced mindfulness exercises often enough to gauge whether they are helpful to me yet or not.
@ImaginativePenny152
Mindfulness is definitely a long term thing to do on the side, I hope it can prove to be helpful!
It’s already a good thing that you’re recognizing that your emotions are mostly based on your emotional mind. Whenever I notice that my emotions might be leading my choice (and that there might be reasonable things I’m forgetting) I try, when possible, to write things down, for example if there are pros and cons in making the decision and so on. I find that writing it all down helps me take a step back and think a bit better!
Take care!
Thank you! I think writing it down may prove helpful for me as well, since I do find expressing myself in writing easier for me than verbally.
Do you think this skill could be helpful for you? - It is. I try and do it everyday.
Do you usually take decisions based on your rational (head) or emotional (heart) mind? Or both? - I think more with my head then my heart.
Do you sometimes practice mindfulness exercises? (breathing, guided meditation…) If yes, how does it make you feel? - I try to everyday, do deep breathing, meditations, yoga, Ect. It's really helped me!
Thank you for this read!!!!
