The Wise Mind

The Wise Mind is the inner wisdom that each person has. Inner wisdom includes the ability to identify and use skillful means for attaining valued ends. It can also be defined as the ability to access and then apply knowledge, experience, and common sense to the situation at hand. This practice is part of the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy developed by Marsha Linehan.

Transcript

Welcome to the Wise Mind Practice.

Sit in a comfortable but attentive position.

Close your eyes.

As you sit there,

Focus your mind on your breath.

Attend to your breath coming in and your breath going out.

As you breathe naturally in and out,

Imagine you are by a lake on a warm sunny day.

It is a large,

Clear,

Very blue lake.

The sun is shining warmly from the lake.

Imagine that you are a small stone flake from a piece of stone near the lake.

And imagine being gently tossed out into the lake,

Out to the middle of the lake.

Floating into the cold,

Clear,

Blue waters of the lake.

Imagine that you are slowly,

Very slowly floating down in the lake,

Noticing all that is in the lake.

As you gently float down,

Floating down in the cold,

Clear,

Blue waters gazing at what is around you.

And now settling on a clear bottom of the lake,

At the center of the lake,

Gazing at the clear waters and what is nearby.

And when you are ready,

Open your eyes,

Come back to the room,

Trying to maintain your awareness of that clear center that is between you.