It’s the Little Things | Every Day Pleasant Life Activities for Adults

In DBT group, we have a handout called “Adult Pleasant Events Schedule.” It is a checklist of 197 little things we can do each day (we are encouraged to pick at least one daily or make up our own) to make life more enjoyable. There are 3 pages total.

Here is Page 1:

Page 2:

And Page 3:

At the bottom of the sheets, it notes: “From Skills Training Manual for Disordered Emotion Regulation” by Marsha Linehan (c) in press Guilford.” It seems that this manual is FILLED with great resources for people with BPD and their care providers.

It really helps to have this list handy or to come up with ideas – events and things that you know will boost your mood, and then to do them – whether you have Borderline Personality Disorder or not.

I tweeted today that it makes me feel happy to have a kid’s food like peanut butter and jelly, a grilled cheese sandwich, or a string cheese. Just a little thing, but it is enjoyable for me.

Last night I tweeted that an old-school Bee Gees song was relaxing me and helping to make the night mellow. I included that I figured people would think I was “lame” for choosing that song, and someone responded back and said that nothing is lame if it helps. I have to agree. If you aren’t hurting yourself or someone else in any way, and it helps, go for it!

Today I did a few pleasant life activities:

Met with a friend and we caught up on each others’ lives. We sat in the sun, which was a bonus.

Had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch.

Treated myself to the Light Caramel Frappuchino at Starbucks (low-cal and low-sugar). As I parted with my $4 for the drink, I reminded myself to enjoy it slowly and that I could fork over a few bucks now and then for the pleasant experience. Yumm!

I blasted some music in my car while driving to and from work and sang along with reckless abandon.

I set goals for work to help me stay focused, and I enjoyed the feeling of confidence most of the day.

I think that some of these items are on the list, but see how many you can identify for yourself, and try to do at least one tonight/today. Feel free to share if this exercise helps you or if you have any activities you particularly enjoy or recommend.

Go do something pleasant!

Thanks for reading.
More soon.