Nourishing vs. depleting activities audit

Map your weekly activities into those that restore energy and those that drain it, then intentionally shift the balance.

Why it works

Behavioral activation — increasing engagement with rewarding activities — is a first-line intervention in depression with strong RCT support. MBCT integrates this by adding a mindful awareness component: you notice the actual lived quality of each activity in your body, not just its intellectual category as "should be good for you." This prevents the common failure of adding activities that look good on paper but feel like chores.

How to do it

1. List 15–20 activities you do regularly or have done recently.
2. For each, rate: Does this nourish (leave me with more energy/presence) or deplete (leave me more drained/distant)?
3. Identify which depleting activities are genuinely necessary and which are optional.
4. Plan one nourishing activity to add or protect this week, and remove or reduce one optional depleter.

Evidence

Behavioral activation has strong RCT support as both a standalone and combined treatment for depression. The nourishing/depleting audit operationalizes behavioral activation with a mindful awareness layer; MBCT combines both. (rct)

The evidence is strongest for behavioral activation broadly; the specific mindful nourish/deplete framing is an MBCT program component, not independently trialed.

Sources

• Cuijpers et al. (2007), behavioral activation for depression, meta-analysis, Clinical Psychology Review

Common mistake

Labeling activities as nourishing or depleting based on what they "should" be rather than what your actual body and energy levels tell you — the exercise requires honest felt-sense data, not social expectations.