After applying the principles of mindfulness and learning to decrease their negative emotions, women are ready to move on to the next step of DBT therapy at Brookhaven Retreat. This week, women conclude Steps For Increasing Your Positive Emotions Week and journey one step closer to building a life worth living.
There are two methods of expanding positive experiences; women can focus on expanding both short and long-term experiences. Increasing positive emotions through these two channels trains the mind to think in a more positive way. With time and patience, healthy emotional habits become ingrained.
Short-term experiences include pleasant daily activities that make us feel good. Women are encouraged to schedule an activity every day, such as baking, talking to a friend, gardening or writing. Long-term experiences are those events that build a life worth living, such as going back to school or cultivating relationships. Short-term experiences fit into this long-term picture to create a happy, positive life.
Women use mindfulness practices taught in earlier weeks to practice creating positive experiences for themselves. When women become mindful of negative thought processes, they can use DBT tactics to steer themselves into positive thinking patterns that reinforce the ultimate goal of mental wellness.
With patience and practice, women begin to change the pathways in the mind and create lives of positivity and wellness.
