By Fiona Smith, Clinical TraineeOne major skill within Dialectical Behavior Therapy’s (DBT) Mindfulness Module is the idea of observing. Observing is the act of sensing or experiencing without labeling your experience. This can be challenging. It takes conscious effort to remind ourselves that we are allowed to be in the world and experience life without labeling, judging, or quantifying each moment. Over time, when we practice the art of simply observing, the mind grows quieter and our thoughts slow. It helps bring our awareness to things we may never before have noticed - like the fact that we have a talkative mind or tend to make quick judgments as we see or experience people or events. As Marsha Linehan writes in the DBT manual: “Observing your thoughts can sometimes be very difficult. This is because your thoughts about events may often seem to you like facts instead of thoughts. Many people have never really tried to just sit back and watch their thoughts. When you observe your own mind, you will see that your thoughts (and also your emotions and bodily sensations) never stop following one another. From morning till night, there is an uninterrupted flow of events inside your mind. As you watch, these will come and go like clouds in the sky. This is what thoughts and feelings do inside the mind when just observed—they come and go.” Observing is not dissociating. It is coming back to yourself and grounding through your feet into the earth to nonjudgmentally let experiences unfold. One of the parts that I appreciate most about this DBT skill is that I find it helps me understand my reactions to situations, things, and people more closely. With plain observation, I can hear what my gut reactions really are. This provides insight into how I’m seeing the world and opens up the option to see certain events from a different perspective. This skill goes hand in hand with the “how” skill of non-judgement. |
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