DBT mindfulness skills

The Beginner’s Guide to DBT Mindfulness Skills Part 7: Effectively

Let’s be real. The whole reason we’re doing any of this mindfulness stuff, pausing, noticing our breath, tuning into the present moment, isn’t just to be calm and zen while life hurls curveballs at us. It’s to be effective. That’s right: to align our actions with our values and goals, to respond with wisdom instead of reactivity, and to live a life that actually feels like ours.

The Beginner’s Guide to DBT Mindfulness Skills Part 6: One-Mindfully

In a world where multitasking is treated like a superpower, focusing on just one thing at a time can feel... weird. Unproductive. Even a little rebellious. You might ask, “Wait, if I’m at a dinner party, am I supposed to only eat and not talk? Or cancel game night because it requires both laughing and snack-holding?”

The Beginner’s Guide to DBT Mindfulness Skills Part 5: Nonjudgmentally

Now onto the “how” of mindfulness. As I shared earlier in this series, DBT Mindfulness has two main components: What you do (Observe, Describe, Participate), and How you do it (Nonjudgmentally, One-Mindfully, Effectively). We’ve made it through the What skills, now it’s time to dive into the How skills, starting with the real heavy-hitter: being nonjudgmental.

The Beginner’s Guide to DBT Mindfulness Skills Part 3: Describe

Welcome back to part 3 of our 7-part mindfulness series inspired by Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)! In this article, we’re diving into the second “What” skill: Describing. It comes right after Observation and spoiler alert, it’s basically your brain’s favorite party trick: putting words to what you notice. The catch? We’re learning how to do it mindfully.

The Beginner’s Guide to DBT Mindfulness Skills Part 1: What and How

I know I mention mindfulness in nearly every other paragraph—but that’s because this blog is all about practicing mindfulness in real life. Still, you might be wondering: What exactly is mindfulness? And more importantly, how do you actually practice it in your everyday life?

What Mindfulness Actually Is (And How to Practice It IRL)

I recently realized that as much as I talk about the importance of being mindful, I haven't been so mindful of explaining what the heck mindfulness actually is. And how to do it. Thus, I committed the cardinal sin of mindfulness. Assuming. I figured because "mindfulness" is so hot these days that everyone already knows what it is. But come to find out, not so much.