• Wordless watching: Just notice the experience in the present moment.
• Observe both inside and outside yourself, using all of your five senses.
• Watch your thoughts and feelings come and go, as if they were on a conveyor belt.
• Have a “Teflon mind,” letting experiences come into your mind and slip right out (not holding on).
• Don’t push away your thoughts and feelings. Just let them happen, even when they’re painful.
• Note: we cannot observe another’s inner experience (“He’s upset.”)—only external features (e.g., a tear rolling down a cheek) or our thoughts about another’s experience (“I observed the thought ‘He’s upset.’ “).
• Put words on the experience: Label what you observe with words.
• For example: “I feel sad,” “My face feels hot,” “I feel my heart racing,” “I’m having the thought that . . . ,” “I’m having an urge to. . . .”
• Describe only what you observe without interpretations. Stick to the facts! Instead of “that person has an attitude,” you could describe that person as “rolling her eyes, speaking with a loud voice.”
• Throw yourself into the present moment fully (e.g., dancing, cleaning, taking a test, feeling sad in the moment). Try not to worry about tomorrow or focus on yesterday.
• Become one with whatever you’re doing: Get into the zone.
• Fully experience the moment without being self-conscious.
• Experience even negative emotions fully to help your Wise Mind make a decision about what to do (instead of acting impulsively).
Reference: From DBT® Skills Manual for Adolescents, by Jill H. Rathus and Alec L. Miller. Copyright 2015 by The Guilford Press.