"What": DBT Skills for Mindfulness

In our blog post on Intro to Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), we explored the four main modules of DBT. We learned the wise mind skill, a mindful approach to living in the intersection of your emotional mind and reasonable mind.

The "what" skills are exactly what they sound like: what is happening and what are you doing? These skills can be be useful if you find yourself ruminating about the past or future, lost in your phone doomscrolling, or being so nervous that you can't focus on the conversation.

Here are the steps:

1. Observe

   1. Externally. Use the 5 senses grounding technique to observe your environment.

   2. Internally. Notice your thoughts and bodily sensations without judgment or engaging deeply with them, as if they were leaves flowing through a stream.

2. Describe

   1. What you have observed without judgment or interpretation.

   2. This looks like reframing "Nobody wants to play this game with me" into "It is my turn to roll the dice. My friends are looking at their phones. I feel my face getting hot."

3. Participate

   1. Release self-consciousness and engage fully with the activity. Focus on the sensory experiences and remain grounded in what's occurring around you.

   2. This might look like rolling the dice, listening to the sounds and conversations around you, and engaging with the ongoing activity.

These steps are easier to say than do, and take practice in mindfulness to move forward. Don't be afraid to take them slowly and to allow yourself to practice living in the present.