The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Anxiety

Putting It All Together 227

difficult situation or person, or strengthen awareness of your higher power. You can connect to your
higher power through prayer, an act of kindness, or some giving of yourself to others. What you
choose is up to you, but committed action—in some form—is necessary to make any real change
in your life.
Right now, choose the five daily practices you will use tomorrow. Then, write them here as
part of your commitment to really do them.

My daIly practIces

Mindfulness:

Deep relaxation:

Self-observation:

Affirmation:

Committed action plan:

What time each day will you do your practices? Please write that here:

So far, so good—you know what you’ll do for your daily practices and when you’ll do them.
But now comes the most important part: persevering—spending those fifteen minutes every day
strengthening your skills.
How do you persevere? The answer is one day at a time—making sure that on this day, at
the appointed time, you do your practices. And the next day you do the same thing ... and the
next. A commitment isn’t something you make once, and you’re set for life. It’s something you
keep making, every day.
The daily practices will change your life because they will help you shape new responses to
old struggles. Life isn’t about hopes or intentions. It’s about doing. It’s about being effective. Now,
as we close the book, we’re asking you to live what you’ve learned. You can do this, maybe not
perfectly, but enough to make real changes.
The poet and author Samuel Johnson once said: “The future is purchased by the present.”
Similarly, by investing in your dialectical behavior therapy skills and practices today, you can create
a happier and healthier tomorrow.