DBT TOOL · LET THE FEELING PASS

Riding the Wave

When a feeling or an urge feels like it will drown you - this is how you let it rise and fall without being pulled under.

Riding the Wave, defined

Riding the Wave, defined Riding the wave is letting a hard feeling rise and fall without acting on it. Feelings are like waves - they build, they peak, and they always come back down. You do not have to fix it or obey it. You can name it, breathe, and let it pass through you.

Never a straight line. Some waves are big - you ride them without drowning, and they still come down.

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

The feeling will not last, even when it swears it will. Name it. Feel where it sits in your body. Breathe with it and do not act. Then wait - every wave crests and falls. You do not have to do anything for it to pass. You just have to not jump in.
⬇ Download this worksheet to send
12345NAMEITLOCATEITDON'TACTLET ITFALLSTEPBACKthis is a wavein the bodylet it beit will passwhich is it?STARTSTEADIER
DBT TOOL · THE MOVES

The moves

Plain and small. Tap any move to open it.

1 · Name the wave

Say what is here: this is anger, this is grief. Naming it makes it a wave, not the whole ocean.

2 · Feel where it sits

Notice where it lives in your body - chest, throat, gut - and describe it like weather.

3 · Breathe, don't act

Breathe with it. Do not feed it, do not fight it, do not act on it. Just let it be there.

4 · Let it crest and fall

Remember: every wave rises, peaks, and falls. You do not have to do anything for it to pass.

5 · Step back and tell the difference

Some feelings are waves to ride; some are signals to act on. Step back - if nothing truly needs doing right now, ride it out. Use the prompts in the record to tell it apart.

See one full pass
NAME IT
This is a wave of anger.
LOCATE IT
Hot and tight across my chest.
DON'T ACT
Breathed with it instead of firing off a text.
LET IT FALL
Ten minutes later it was already smaller.
DISTRESS
Eased from 8/10 to 3/10.
I did not act on the peak. It passed on its own. 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 Riding the Wave
The wave right now
Name the wave
Feel where it sits
Breathe, don't act
Let it crest and fall
Step back and tell the difference
Ride it, or act? Step back

Some feelings are waves to ride; some are signals to act on. Step back - if nothing truly needs doing right now, ride it out.

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

No printer? Take a screenshot of the card above.

SHARE IT

Make a Shareable Card

This card fills itself in from your record above. Pick a shape, then save the full-size image.

Feelings are real, but they are not the last word. You breathe, you get still, and you remember the One who stills the waves is in the boat with you.

“Be still, and know that I am God.”

Psalm 46:10 · NIV
Why it works

Letting a feeling rise and fall without acting lets the thinking brain ride out the alarm until it settles - read the research.

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