DBT TOOL · GET THROUGH THE HOUR

ACCEPTS

When the pain cannot be fixed right now and you just have to get through the next hour - this gives you seven honest ways to do it.

ACCEPTS, defined

ACCEPTS, defined ACCEPTS is a set of seven ways to get through a painful moment you cannot fix right now, without making it worse. Activities, Contributing, Comparisons, Emotions, Pushing away, Thoughts, Sensations. It is not avoiding the problem forever. It is riding out the peak so you can face it with more in the tank.

Never a straight line. Distraction is not running away - it is buying time until the wave drops.

21 DAYS TO REWIRE A THOUGHT.
21 WEEKS TO REWIRE A LIFE.

Getting through is not giving up. When you cannot fix it yet, you can still keep from making it worse. Pick one - do something absorbing, help someone, reach for a lighter feeling, shelve it for now. Ride the peak. You can come back to it stronger.
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12345678ACTIVITYGIVEYOU'VECOPEDLIFTITSHELVEITFILLMINDSTRONGFEELSTEPBACKdo somethinghelp someonelooking backshift the notefor nowcount, recitesafe and strongwhich is it?STARTSTEADIER
DBT TOOL · THE MOVES

The moves

Plain and small. Tap any move to open it.

1 · Activities

Do something absorbing - a task, a walk, a show - to give the feeling somewhere to go.

2 · Contributing

Do one small kind thing for someone else. It gets you out of the spin.

3 · Comparisons

Remember a time you got through something this hard, or harder. You have done it before.

4 · Emotions

Reach for a different feeling on purpose - a funny clip, a song that lifts you.

5 · Push away

Set the problem on a shelf for now. You can pick it back up when you have more in the tank.

6 · Thoughts

Fill your mind with something neutral - count, a puzzle, the words of a psalm.

7 · Sensations

Give yourself a strong safe sensation - cold water, a hot drink, a good stretch.

8 · Step back and tell the difference

Healthy distraction buys time; avoidance dodges forever. Step back - are you riding out a peak you cannot fix yet, or ducking something you could face? Use the prompts in the record to tell it apart.

See one full pass
WHAT I CAN'T FIX
Waiting on news I cannot do anything about.
ACTIVITY and GIVE
Folded laundry, then texted a friend to check on her.
SHELVE IT
Put the worry on a shelf until morning.
STRONG FEEL
Held a warm mug and breathed.
DISTRESS
Eased from 8/10 to 5/10.
I did not fix it. I got through the hour. That is the rep.
DBT TOOL · YOUR TURN

Walk it through

Fill it in the moment, or just after. It works on paper too - no buttons needed.

My ACCEPTS
What I can't fix right now
Activities
Contributing
Comparisons
Emotions
Push away
Thoughts
Sensations
Step back and tell the difference
Distracting, or avoiding? Step back

Healthy distraction buys time; avoidance dodges forever. Step back - are you riding out a peak you cannot fix yet, or ducking something you could face?

Distress before/10
Distress after/10
Say it
Your statement builds itself here as you work down the record.
Recover. Rebuild. Renew. · myMove21.com

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Some things you cannot carry and cannot fix in this moment. Getting through is holy work too. You get still and hand the waiting to the One who never sleeps.

“Be still, and know that I am God.”

Psalm 46:10 · NIV
Why it works

Turning your attention to something absorbing shifts the mind off the spin and settles the alarm - read the research.

A general mechanism, not a guarantee. This supports good care; it does not replace it.