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“Paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally, as if your life depended on it.”
This quotation is Jon Kabat-Zinn’s definition of mindfulness. Essentially, mindfulness is about developing awareness in the present moment. It is paying attention, recognizing our thoughts and feelings, and taking the time to respond effectively to the situation.
The object of awareness can be anything. In beginning mindfulness work, we often focus on the breath. However, the object of awareness can be an object in the room, sounds, thoughts, body sensations, emotions, or a present activity.
The founder of DBT, Marsha Linehan, breaks down Mindfulness into the “‘what’ skills” and the “‘how’ skills” (The “How” skills will be presented next week.)
The “What” skills are:
- Observe
- Describe
- Participate
1. Observe the object of our awareness through the 5 senses. Observe as an infant or an animal would–without putting words to the experience.
2. Describe what was observed using factual, non-judgmental language.
3. Participate by using the information obtained from observing and describing. Respond if warranted, or choose not to react. By incorporating the Observe and Describe elements, the time between stimulus and response is increased, and there is less of a chance of reacting in an unskillful, impulsive way.
A key element is to recognize a thought as just a thought and not a fact. When describing a thought, a person may say, “I’m having the thought that I am a failure.” Remember our thoughts are not facts. Thoughts can bubble up and then pop. They can float through us without having us attach to them.
Mindfulness allows us to slow down and really experience the present moment without being plagued by distressing thoughts from the past or worry-thoughts of future events.