Describe

What skillsCore mindfulness movesEmotion and fact labeling

When what is perceived must be clearly stated without prematurely interpreting it.

Putting what you observe into words, without prematurely passing interpretations, motives or assumptions off as facts, so that self-clarification and comparison become possible.

When does this fit?

When what is observed must be named in order to distinguish between fact and attribution or to facilitate feedback, classification and regulation.

Priority in the path

This node fits early in the path when inner restlessness or strong emotional activation are in the foreground.

What this is about

Describe is the second mindfulness what skill: putting words on what has been observed, without adding interpretation, inference, or judgment. Describing follows observing; it is labeling what is present without adding what is not. A person can observe a tightening in the chest and describe tension is arising — but cannot describe what another person is feeling, thinking, or intending, because those are not observable. Describing strengthens the ability to distinguish fact from interpretation.

Research shows that labeling and describing emotions regulates them: putting a name to an emotional experience reduces its intensity through cortical processing. Describing is similar to checking the facts in emotion regulation — both require staying with what is actually observed.

Further reading Linehan Manual — Ch. 7

Continue in practice

ProtocolMindfulness

Daily Mindfulness Regimen

Related practice

If mindfulness is to be developed permanently and a regular practice structure is needed.

Also in: Distress Tolerance · Emotion Regulation · Interpersonal Effectiveness

Open as exercise

From single part to pattern

First return to the skill bundle and from there move to the next steps of the same structure.

Skill bundle

Mindfulness What-Skills

Parent content

If you first want to take the three basic steps of mindfulness as a coherent practice.

Also in: Distress Tolerance · Emotion Regulation · Interpersonal Effectiveness

Open entry

Observe vs. Describe vs. Participate

Helps distinguish whether the first need is noticing, verbal framing, or full participation in the moment.

When choose this concept instead?

Start here when experience needs to be named and made clearer in language.

translates perception into words, categories, or clear naming
fits feelings, thoughts, or situations that are still vague and hard to grasp
asks first: How can I express this clearly and observably?

Vergleichsmatrix
	Describe	Observe	Participate
Module context	How can I name what I noticed so it becomes clearer and more graspable?	What am I noticing right now without immediately doing something with it?	How do I enter this moment fully instead of staying beside it?
Skill family or proximity	Translate experience into words, categories, or observable descriptions.	Register what is happening inside or outside with attention, without ordering it immediately.	Bring attention fully into activity, contact, or experience.
Comparison focus	Sorting feelings, thoughts, or situations and making them linguistically tangible.	Stimulus perception, inner activation, first orientation in the moment.	Action, practice, contact, and situations where full involvement matters more than observer distance.