I do DBT mindfulness. Basically, it brings awareness to one's thoughts and experiences. It's not about emptying your mind so much as becoming aware of what is there. Calling a thought a thought, a feeling a feeling. The description I've been given is that it's like a conveyer belt with boxes. You simply watch the boxes (your thoughts, feelings) go by without the need to stop and unpack it. The goal is to stay in the present moment with a mind that doesn't let anything stick on it. Another analogy is lying on a blanket and the clouds drift by. They are what they are and you don't have to hold onto them.

It does take practice, but there's no real failing it. I'll go for walks and listen to my music or notice the weather or notice that I'm feeling anxious. And sometimes my thoughts run off a bit, I hear a song and it makes me think of X and then I'm thinking about Y and I'm not *here* anymore, I'm *there*... and so I just bring it back. I take a deep breath and let the feeling, the thought pass me by.

In fact, I'm working on that as I'm typing here. I feel the keys. I smell my coffee. I hear my children. As I was getting my coffee I wasn't focused, I was off thinking about something else, and I poured my coffee almost mechanically instead of noticing the color as it went into my cup or how the aroma hit me for the first time this morning.

It takes practice and if I'm in high emotion or whatnot (or when I was first starting), I had to do a lot of bringing it back. Non-judgmental. It is what it is. I am what I am. I am where I am.

The only other thing I do is breathing exercises. I like to count "One in, one out, two in, two out." A new one that I was recently introduced to was focusing my breathing while imagining tracing my fingers. Breathe in, up the pinky, breathe out, down the pinky, breathe in, up the ring finger, breathe out, down the ring finger, etc through all ten fingers. It gives my brain something else to focus on while I'm doing my breathing.