Mindfulness skills

Question 1

Why describe?

Answer 1

1. Describing distinguishes what is observed from what is not observed. This helps us identify thoughts vs facts which is important because responding to thoughts as facts can lead to unnecessary distress and ineffective actions if thoughts don’t match the facts
2. It allows for feedback from others. If we describe to others, they can correct inaccurate thoughts or validate thoughts. This helps us learn (like providing corrective feedback to babies as they learn to speak)
3. It helps us process information (example given is journaling)

Question 2

Example of responding to thoughts as facts leading to unnecessary distress?

Answer 2

Partner didn’t respond to text and I thought that something was wrong and he didn’t want to be with me anymore

Question 3

Example of responding to thoughts as facts leading to ineffective action?

Answer 3

Plans with partner to go out for dinner, they come home 10 minutes late, I have the thought that it;s because he doesn’t care and start to accuse him of not caring, it turns out he decided to stop and pick up flowers for me at the last minute and was holding them behind his back, now the whole evening of off to a negative start

Question 4

What is describe and how does it differ from observe?

What is the benefit of this?

Answer 4

Observing = sensing without words
Describing = Using words or thoughts to label what’s observed

The benefit is that when you’re describing experiences you are labeling them as what they are
- labeling a thought as a thought, and emotion as an emotion, a behaviour as a behaviour

When you label thoughts, you’re also acknowledgeing that they are thoughts and not facts.

That’s because we can only describe things that we observe and we can only observe facts, we can’t observe assumptions and interpertations

Question 5

Can we describe other people’s thoughts, intentions, or emotions?

What does this make challenging?

Answer 5

• We can observe our own thoughts and can only guess what others are thinking
• Makes it challenging to describe without assuming, but something that can be helpful is framing things in terms of ‘i feel’ statements

Question 6

Can we observe concepts?

Example?

Answer 6

No, concepts are not directly observable.
These are the results of making sense of a number of observations

Inferred through observations and through making logical deductions from observations
The concept of friendship
- you can observe the beahviours associated with friendship, you can use words to define the concept of friendship

But you can’t observe the concept of friendship itself

NOTE that we can observe the conclusions that we draw in our mind, so we can’t observe the concept of friendship, but you can observe that you deduced friendship from the information you did observe

Question 7

What is participating?

Answer 7

Participating is entering wholly and with awareness into life itself, nonjudgmentally, in the present moment.

Question 8

Why participate?

Answer 8

1. it is associated with a flow state
2. it is incompatible with self consciousness
3. it is incompatible with a sense of exclusion
4. It makes effort seem effortless
5. We are present in our own lives and the lives of our loved ones
6. it is the fundamental characteristic of skillful behaviour

Question 9

What do we mean by participating “is the fundamental characteristic of skillful behaviour”

Answer 9

That to be experts in anything we need to overlearn the activity, become one with the activity. This requires mindful awareness of the activity without overthinking and distractions.

Example of an actor who is thinking about the role vs becoming it, sports

Question 10

How to participate?

Answer 10

1. enter into present experiences
2. immerse yourself completely into activities
3. don’t separate yourself from ongoing events and interactions
4. become one with what you’re doing
5. let go of self consciousness by acting opposite to it
6. act intuitively from wise mind, doing just what is needed in each situation
7. Go with the dlow and respond with spontaneity

Question 11

What is the difference between observe. describe, and participate?

Answer 11

Observing is an awareness of the observable facts without trying to label them;

describing adds on labels and words to what is observed,

participating is immersing yourself completely into an activity until you become one with it, maintaining a present moment awareness

Question 12

When might we want to observe vs describe vs participate?

Answer 12

When something is new or difficult observe and describe are a good choice

• they can help us step back, shlow down, analyze, pay attention, and help us figure out what we;re doing
• this can be particularly helpful when you encounter a problem, stepping back and observing and describing can help us problem solve

Also it can be a good choice to practice the one that you struggle with the most

Question 13

What are the two types of judgements?

Answer 13

Judgements that discriminate

Judgements that evaluate

Question 14

Whar are judgements that discriminate?

Answer 14

Judgements used to discern or analyse whether two things are the same or different
( for example, Whether something fits the facts)

These are necessary judgements that help us function in our daily lives

Question 15

Judgements that evaluate? what are they based on?

Answer 15

We add evaluations to facts.

Judges something as “good” or “bad”, “worthy” or “unworthy” etc.

Based in opinion, personal values, ideas, etc.