Participating in Life

By: Michael Upston, LCSW

Dr. Marsha Linehan, the creator of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, describes mindfulness as having three parts. The first part is what she calls "observe." Observe is exactly what it sounds like, which is to observe or notice your internal (thoughts, feelings, urges) and external (sounds, smells, visuals) experiences as they occur. An important word there is "notice." Notice means to pay attention or take note of something. By definition, it simply means to observe, not to react, not to judge, and not to evaluate.

The second part is what Dr. Linehan calls "describe." This is the act of putting words on the experience you are observing. Notice the thought that you are having and name it as just a thought. Notice the urge to engage in a compulsion and name it as just an urge. Labeling the different parts of your experience as what they really are helps keep perspective and differentiate between what the thought tells us, and what is actually happening.

The third part is what Dr. Linehan calls "participate." Participate means to fully engage in whatever activity is going on in the present moment. It means getting out of your head and engaging in what is actually happening rather than continuing to get pulled into the spiral of your thoughts. Many describe this as "going with the flow" or getting lost in the task. Like an athlete who is in the zone or a musician who is lost in his/her craft, participating means losing yourself in the present moment.

Effective mindfulness practice involves all three of these parts together, but each also plays an important role on its own. Anyone who is interested in practicing mindfulness or would like more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us at BBI!