Feeling Words
This 4-letter feeling can show up when you worry something bad is about to happen.
What is fear?
A racing heart and sweaty palms often signal this feeling.
What is anxiety?
This word describes a person, place, or thing that brings up the urge to use.
What is a trigger?
Breathing in for 4, holding for 4, and out for 4 is an example of this skill.
What is box breathing?
When you feel this, your face might get hot and your firsts might clench.
What is anger?
This is the common name for a physical signal in your body that something feels off, like a knot in your stomach.
What is a "gut feeling"?
In the acronym HALT, the H stands for hungry and the A for angry. These words are the L and the T.
What are lonely and tired?
Pressing your feet into the earth or holding something cold are both ways to do this. It brings your attention back into your body.
What is grounding?
This feeling often shows up after a loss and can include crying, numbness, or both.
Tight shoulders, a clenched jaw, and shallow breathing are common signs of this state.
What is stress?
This term describes escaping, turning way from, or numbing out a feeling.
What is avoidance?
This grounding technique uses your five sense to bring you back into the present moment.
What is 5-4-3-2-1?
This feeling might make you want to disappear or hide who you are.
What is shame?
This is the term for noticing what's happening inside your body, like tightness, heat, or heaviness.
What is awareness?
This simple coping tool is a small gap between feeling an urge and acting on it.
What is a pause?
Reaching out to another person instead of isolating is an example of this coping skill.
What is connection?
This feeling might show up after doing something you believe wasn't right or okay.
What is guilt?
When the body goes into fight, flight, or freeze, this system has taken over.
What is the (sympathetic) nervous system?
This term describes the harsh voice in your head that says things like "I'll always be like this."
What is the inner critic?
This is the ability to sit with a hard emotion without immediately reacting to make it go away. DBT therapy helps build this skill.
What is distress tolerance?