A DBT skill card. Wise Mind is the calm, grounded place where your feelings and your logic come together, plus a quiet inner knowing. Learn what it is, when to use it, and how to find it.
Wise Mind
PreviewWe all have three states of mind. Emotion Mind is when feelings are in charge - hot, fast, and driven by how things feel. Reasonable Mind is when logic and facts are in charge - cool, planned, and driven by thinking. Wise Mind is the overlap of the two. It uses both your feelings and your facts, and it adds intuition: a settled, inner sense of what is right for you. Everyone has a Wise Mind, even if it can be hard to reach at times.
Reach for Wise Mind when you feel pulled in two directions, when a strong feeling is pushing you to act fast, when a decision matters and you want to get it right, or any time you feel scattered and want to feel steady. It is useful before you act, not only after.
Work through these one at a time. Tick each step as you try it.
Steps to access Wise Mind
None selected
A quick check-in. Noticing the state you are in is the first step to shifting toward Wise Mind.
Right now, which mind feels most in charge?
Not answered
Bring to mind a choice or worry you are facing right now. Slow down, breathe, and ask your Wise Mind. Write down what it tells you - even a few words is enough.
What I am deciding or struggling with
Not answered
What my Wise Mind says
Not answered
Optional. Rate how connected to your Wise Mind you feel after this practice.
Connection to Wise Mind (0 = not at all, 10 = fully grounded)
Not answered
This is a read-only preview. Sign up to assign it and let clients complete it on any device.
‘Wise Mind’ is an interactive cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) worksheet. As a core CBT skill it is used right across the model, with presentations including depression, anxiety, OCD, trauma and low self-esteem, rather than being tied to a single diagnosis.
It is designed to be used within therapy rather than as a standalone self-help tool: a therapist introduces it, works through it collaboratively, and helps make sense of what it surfaces. You can preview the full worksheet above, then assign it digitally for clients to complete between sessions on any device — or download it as a print-ready PDF.
Most people work through it in around 10 minutes. It moves through six short steps:
Completed on the Formulate platform, your client's answers are saved automatically and shared straight back to you, so you can review them before the next session rather than waiting for a paper copy to come back.
In common with other CBT methods, ‘Wise Mind’ works by noticing the links between situations, thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and behaviour — and finding practical ways to change unhelpful patterns. The aim is not positive thinking but a clearer, shared understanding of what keeps a difficulty going — and practical, testable ways to change it.
Because it is a CBT tool it stays focused on the here-and-now links between thoughts, feelings, the body and behaviour, and it works best as one part of a wider course of therapy rather than as advice or a diagnosis.
This worksheet is grounded in established cognitive behavioural therapy theory and practice. Key sources include:
Formulate provides educational CBT resources for use with a qualified therapist. They are not a substitute for professional assessment, diagnosis, or crisis care.
If you need urgent help now:
Sign up free and send your client a link. They complete it on any device — you review their responses before the next session.
No credit card required. 10 free worksheets every month.
An explainer on how the body's threat system works, why the physical feelings of fear are uncomfortable but harmless, and why false alarms happen.