Is to explore your own music for songs that are dialectical in some way. Out: see if you can hear the dialectics in these songs. Some music might be dialecticalīecause it is a sad sounding song with happy lyrics (or vice versa). I have compiled a playlist of songs that haveĭialectical messages or dialectical statements. Once you start looking for dialectics around you, you start I bet you can come up with your own examples! Another challenge for you is to explore your own music for songs that are dialectical in some way.

Try it out: see if you can hear the dialectics in these songs. Some music might be dialectical because it is a sad sounding song with happy lyrics (or vice versa). I have compiled a playlist of songs that have dialectical messages or dialectical statements. Once you start looking for dialectics around you, you start to see them everywhere.

Now, what has stayed the same? You’ll notice that you can Take a few moments to notice what has changed in your life or in

Practice dialectics by actively looking for them.

Is just an opportunity to sit in an uncomfortable moment and learn to tolerate You the freedom to move on, or to find a different solution, and sometimes it Not fully correct, nor do you have to choose between them, you just notice the tug-of-warīetween the two and that they both exist.

Sometimes when I teachĭialectics, there is this feeling like “but then what do you do?” What do youĭo with that dialectical tension between two seemingly opposing things? And youĮnter the paradox by just allowing the two to exist simultaneously. “this is hard (maybe even so hard that it feels impossible) and I can You don’t want to do, for example, you can validate yourself by first saying When you have to do something difficult that Dialectics are a good way to validate yourself.Instead say “You’re not listening to me right now”. Instead of thinking or saying “You never listen to me!”, Thinking/saying “I’m a failure”, change that to “sometimes I fail and Change your thinking from all-or-nothing to both-and,Īnd soften extreme language (e.g., always, never).It reminds us that there is more than one way to see a problemĪnd people are unique and have different points of view. Intensity that comes from unbalanced, all-or-nothing thinking or conflicts with Too tired to work and I can do my work anyway” “I love you and I hate you”.īeing more dialectical can help to reduce the emotional Happy and I feel sad” “I want to be loud and you need me to be quiet” “ThingsĪre very different now from a year ago and every day feels the same” “I feel Some other examples of dialectical statements are: “I feel We use “and” in the middle of a dialectic instead of “but” to giveīoth statements equal weight – they are equally true! Other words, “I’m doing the best I can, and I need to do better and try A core dialectic ofĭBT is accepting where we are right now and changing for the better. The other describes it as being like a rope after touching its tail, both descriptionsĪre true and each person holds a portion of “the truth”. If one personĭescribes the elephant as being like a large snake after touching its trunk and Two blindfolded people on opposite ends of the elephant. I like to think of it as having an elephant in the room with You might also see dialectics when in conflict For example, “It’s snowing and it is spring”. It reminds me that seasons don’tĬhange all at once: there is a back and forth as we gradually move through theĪ dialectic is when two seemingly conflicting things are trueĪt the same time.

Still spring anyway, even while it is snowing. Yet – one last hurrah before it’s gone for a few months – and that it is It reminds me that winter is not quite done with us In the middle of May, perhaps the perfect time to be writing about entering the I sit down to write this blog post as it is snowing outside

Dialectic examples