226 The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook
The daily practices take a total of about fifteen minutes. They should be done, ideally, at the
same time each day—so they can become a healthy habit. Choose a period in your day when you
can be alone and have a little quiet. It could be just after your morning coffee or in your workspace
just before going to lunch. It could be how you de-stress when you come home at night or part of
your bedtime routine. Whatever time you choose, stick to it. Don’t let other events or commit-
ments interfere. Consider the time spent in daily practices as an appointment with yourself—no
less important than all the other commitments that you keep.
Your daily practices will be assembled from a menu of choices. Here’s how that works:
1. Mindfulness. Three to five minutes. Choose to do one of the following: Mindful breathing (see chapter 3) Wise-mind meditation (see chapter 4)2. Deep relaxation. Three minutes. Choose to do one of the following: Cue-controlled relaxation (see chapter 2) Band of light (see chapter 3) Safe-place visualization (see chapter 2)3. Self-observation. Three minutes. Choose to do one of the following: Thought defusion (see chapter 3) Be mindful of your emotions without judgment (see chapter 7)4. Affirmation. See chapter 2 for a list of self-affirmations or create a self-affirmation your-
self. Repeat the affirmation five times while taking slow, long breaths. You can choose
a different affirmation each day—or keep working on the same one.5. Committed action. Three minutes. Choose to do one of the following: Plan to implement today’s (or tomorrow’s) committed action (see chapter 2). Plan for what you can do today (or tomorrow) to connect to your higher
power (see chapter 2).Each component of your daily practices is designed to strengthen one or more core skills. First
and foremost are mindfulness skills because all of the others depend, to some degree, on mindful
awareness. Deep relaxation is a key to distress tolerance, while self-observation and affirmation
will help with emotion regulation. Finally, a plan for committed action will strengthen emotion
regulation and interpersonal effectiveness skills.
The concept of committed action deserves special note. Your daily practices should include
a plan for something you’ll do—that day or the next—to solve a problem, deal effectively with a