DBT TOOL · GIVE IT THE RIGHT WORD

Name the Emotion

When everything is a loud blur and you cannot even say what you feel - this is how you name it, and how the naming steadies you.

Name the Emotion, defined

Name the Emotion, defined Naming the emotion is stopping to say plainly what you are feeling. Not fixing it, not judging it - just giving it the right word. This is grief. This is fear. Strange as it sounds, naming a feeling takes some of its power and helps it settle.

Never a straight line. Some feelings take a few tries to name - and naming them is already the work.

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

You do not have to fix the feeling. You just have to name it. Pause and let it be there. Put one plain word on it. Notice where it sits in your body. Then say it kindly - this is grief, and it is allowed here. The right name takes some of the heat out.
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12345PAUSENAMEITLOCATEITLET ITSETTLESTEPBACKlet it beone wordin the bodyit easeswhich is it?STARTSTEADIER
DBT TOOL · THE MOVES

The moves

Plain and small. Tap any move to open it.

1 · Pause and feel

Stop for a moment and let the feeling be there, without judging it or fixing it.

2 · Name it plainly

Put one plain word on it - fear, grief, anger, shame. The right name settles it.

3 · Find where it sits

Notice where you feel it - chest, gut, throat - and what it is like.

4 · Let the name settle it

Say it: this is grief, and grief is allowed here. Naming a feeling takes some of its heat.

5 · Step back and tell the difference

Big moments carry several feelings at once. Step back - under the loud one, what else is here? The quiet one often matters most. Use the prompts in the record to tell it apart.

See one full pass
PAUSE
I stopped and let myself actually feel it.
NAME IT
This is grief, not just tiredness.
LOCATE IT
A heavy ache in my chest.
LET IT SETTLE
'This is grief, and it is allowed.' It eased a little.
DISTRESS
Eased from 7/10 to 4/10.
Naming it did not fix it. It made it carryable. 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 Name the Emotion
What I'm feeling
Pause and feel
Name it plainly
Find where it sits
Let the name settle it
Step back and tell the difference
More than one feeling? Step back

Big moments carry several feelings at once. Step back - under the loud one, what else is here? The quiet one often matters most.

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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SHARE IT

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Every feeling you name can be brought, honestly, to the One who already knows it. You get still, you tell the truth about it, and you are met there.

“Be still, and know that I am God.”

Psalm 46:10 · NIV
Why it works

Putting a word on a feeling helps the thinking brain turn down the alarm behind it - read the research.

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