ABSTRACT
Mindfulness is becoming mainstream in therapy circles and with good reason. Mindfulness is what separates DBT from CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). Mindfulness is not meditation but simply an awareness of focusing your mind on one thing at a time, not multi-tasking. It trains the mind to focus and not have to ride our emotions from 0-100 every time we have one. Jon Kabat-Zinn uses the example of waves to help explain mindfulness. Think of your mind as the surface of a lake or ocean. There are always waves on the water, sometimes big, sometimes small. The water’s waves are caused by the winds, which come and go and vary in direction and intensity, just as do the winds of stress and change in our mind. It’s possible to find shelter from the waves of emotions which agitates the mind. While we might try to prevent them, the winds of life and of the mind will continue to blow, with or without us.
