Wise Mind Skill
A core concept of DBT Mindfulness, the Wise Mind is a skill nurtured from intuition combined with data acquired from the Emotion and Logic Mind. A Wise Mind helps people focus on the experience and effectively accomplish things. Wise Mind is about achieving a balance between the emotional and rational aspects of our consciousness.
The three integral components of this powerful framework are the Emotion Mind, the Logic Mind, and the Wise Mind itself, each playing a distinct yet interconnected role in our daily functioning and emotional well-being.
Understanding the Emotion Mind
The Emotion Mind is the driving force behind our feelings, passions, fears, anger, and love. It is a state of consciousness where our thoughts and actions are profoundly influenced by the immediate emotional landscape. As Dr. Marsha M. Linehan, the developer of DBT, emphasizes, “Emotional responses are not something to be ignored or dismissed; they provide crucial information about our environment and our needs.”
When experiencing the state of Emotional Mind, our thoughts and actions are influenced by what we feel in the moment. This emotional intelligence improves our communication skills and how we connect with others. Emotion Mind also helps in personal motivation and creativity.
However, we can only sometimes remain in the emotional mind, as it is unhealthy to linger on in our thoughts and emotions. Allowing our emotions and feelings to solely drive our thoughts and decisions would hinder the ability to think logically about a situation, leading to impulsiveness.
Engaging the Logic Mind
Conversely, the Logic Mind, also known as the Reasonable Mind, is the cornerstone of our rational thought processes. It is part of our mind that helps us solve math problems, puzzles, make lists, plan daily, and organize. The logical mind is driven by pragmatism, logic, and facts; it helps us with objectivity and focuses on quantity and evidence. In a logical state of Mind, we detach ourselves from our emotions and focus more on efficiency, results, and solutions. DBT Logic Mind helps us achieve a perfect balance between the logical and emotional mind, whose individual inputs are moderated by the Wise Mind.
Cultivating the Wise Mind
The Wise Mind serves as your mind’s internal moderator and ultimate decision-maker, assessing and analyzing input from both the Logic Mind and the Emotion Mind. It is the intersection of the Emotional Mind and Logical Mind, integrating rationality and emotional experiences to produce an intuitive knowledge that is both insightful and well-balanced.
“The Wise Mind is that part of each person that just ‘knows’ what is true or valid,” explains Dr. Kelly Koerner, a prominent DBT expert. “It’s the point where emotion and reason come together to create a sense of intuitive knowing.”
The Wise Mind helps us acknowledge and value logic, reason, and emotions without allowing either one to dominate one’s thoughts. It helps us make good decisions considering our emotional well-being.