Taking Hold of Your Mind: “How” Skills
Non-judgmentally

• See, but don’t evaluate as good or bad. Just the facts.
• Accept each moment like a blanket spread out on the lawn, accepting both the rain and the sun and each leaf that falls upon it.
• Acknowledge the difference between the helpful and the harmful, the safe and the dangerous, but don’t judge them.
• Acknowledge your values, your wishes, your emotional reactions, but don’t judge them.
• When you find yourself judging, don’t judge your judging.

One-Mindfully

• Rivet yourself to now. Be completely present to this one moment.
• Do one thing at a time. Notice the desire to be half-present, to be somewhere else, to go somewhere else in your mind, to do something else, to multitask—and then come back to one thing at a time.
  • When you are eating, eat.
  • When you are walking, walk.
  • When you are worrying, worry.
  • When you are planning, plan.
  • When you are remembering, remember.
• Let go of distractions. If other actions, or other thoughts, or strong feelings distract you, go back to what you are doing—again, and again, and again.
• Concentrate your mind. If you find you are doing two things at once, stop—go back to one thing at a time (the opposite of multitasking!).

Effectively

• Be mindful of your goals in the situation, and do what is necessary to achieve them.
• Focus on what works. (Don’t let emotion mind get in the way of being effective.)
• Play by the rules.
• Act as skillfully as you can. Do what is needed for the situation you are in—not the situation you wish you were in; not the one that is fair; not the one that is more comfortable.
• Let go of willfulness and sitting on your hands.