The Temperance ToolboxFrequently asked questions
How the tools work, where your entries are stored, and what this site does not do. Search below or jump to a category.
General
A set of free, interactive tools for self-control, emotional regulation, decision-making, habits, and practical life management. You work through something in your browser, save it, and come back to it later. The material draws on evidence-informed psychology and, on some pages, on biblical principles. The about page covers the thinking behind it.
Adults who want practical skills for stress, reactions they wish they had handled differently, habits that will not stick, and the ordinary difficulties of running a life. Several tools are built with executive-function difficulties in mind: short sections, visible next steps, and quick capture.
No. This is educational material and structured practice. It does not diagnose anything, and it does not replace mental health, medical, legal, or financial care.
If you are working with a professional, their guidance about your situation comes first. See the disclaimer for the full wording, and when to seek professional help if you are trying to decide.
Using the tools does not require an account, a sign-up, or an email address, and there is nothing to install. Open a page and it works.
No. The tools work the same whether or not you share the faith this site is built on. Scripture is here, quoted with its reference and set in its own block, and some pages are given to it directly: the Proverbs study and The Practice of Service. Elsewhere a passage appears where it bears on the subject at hand.
Temperance is the older word for self-control and moderation: deciding what you do rather than being carried along by an impulse. That idea sits behind every tool on the site.
The TEMP Method
A four-step framework used throughout the site:
- Take a Pause. Create space between the event and your response. Example: putting the phone down before answering an escalating text.
- Examine the Emotion. Identify what is happening emotionally, physically, mentally, and situationally. Example: noticing you are short with your spouse because you are exhausted, not because of the dishes.
- Make a Plan. Decide the next reasonable action. Example: taking ten minutes outside instead of continuing the argument.
- Practice the Skills. Apply the coping, communication, or problem-solving skill the situation calls for.
The TEMP Method Journal walks a single situation through all four steps and saves it. You can also use one step on its own: box breathing or grounding techniques for the pause, the emotion wheel for naming what you feel, and the coping strategy generator for the last step.
Tools on the site
- Box breathing, a timed breathing pattern
- Grounding techniques, including 5-4-3-2-1
- Emotion wheel for putting a name to what you feel
- Cognitive distortion checklist for reframing a thought
- Coping strategy generator and brain dump for overwhelm
- Mood tracker and the emotional intensity self-assessment
The full list is on the home page.
The mood tracker logs how you felt on a given day along with a short note, so you can look back and see patterns. Entries are saved in the browser you used, on that device only.
Not at the moment. There are no streaks, badges, or combined progress dashboard. The closest things are the core values exercise for deciding what you are aiming at, the personal growth assessment for a periodic check, and the cleaning dashboard for recurring household routines.
Most tools are laid out to print cleanly, and your browser's print dialog can save the page as a PDF. Some tools also have their own copy or export control. Since nothing is backed up anywhere, printing or exporting is the only way to keep a copy that survives clearing your browser data.
Faith and Scripture
Passages are quoted accurately, in context, and kept visibly separate from any commentary around them, so you can always tell which is which. Biblical principles are applied to real decisions: what to do with an impulse, how to speak to someone you are angry with, what to keep working on.
The New King James Version (NKJV), used consistently across the site so wording stays the same from page to page.
On the home page and through the four TEMP steps, in the Proverbs study, The Practice of Service, the Scripture library in the TEMP Journal, and the Scripture focus in the Emotion Wheel, which has a switch for showing or hiding it. Wherever it appears, it is in its own block with the reference attached, so the text is never mixed in with our commentary.
Behavioral science describes how habits form and how thoughts drive reactions, which makes it useful for building a skill. Scripture speaks to what the skill is for. Both are present, both are labeled, and neither is presented as clinical treatment.
Your data
In your own browser, using local storage on the device you are using. There is no server and no database behind the tools. Nothing you type is transmitted anywhere, which also means nobody, including the person who built the site, can read it.
Clearing your browsing data or site data erases everything you have saved here, and entries written in a private window disappear when you close it. Full details are on the privacy page.
Each tool has its own reset or delete control for individual entries. To remove everything at once, clear site data for this site in your browser settings, usually under "Cookies and site data" or "Clear browsing data". That is immediate and permanent; there is no backup and no way to undo it. Step-by-step notes are on the privacy page.
No. Storage belongs to one browser on one device, so nothing syncs. What you write on your phone will not show up on your laptop, and switching browsers on the same computer starts you over. Print or export anything you want to keep.
Your entries never leave your device, so there is nothing for anyone to read remotely. The realistic risk is local: there is no password on the tools, so anyone using your unlocked device in the same browser can open a page and see what you wrote. On a shared computer, print what you need and then clear the entry.
No analytics, no advertising, no third-party cookies, and no mailing list. The site does not ask for your name, email, or location. The one outside request is the charting library the vitals tracker loads to draw its graphs, which carries none of your data.
Using the site
Any current version of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari, on a phone, tablet, or computer. Each page is a plain web page, so once it has loaded it keeps working without a connection. There is nothing to sync, though you will need a connection again to open a page you have not visited yet.
Saving depends on your browser allowing site data. Three common causes: you are in a private or incognito window, your browser is set to block cookies and site data for this site, or storage is full. Check those settings, then reload the page and try again. When a tool cannot save, it tells you rather than failing silently.
Use the moon or sun button in the header, at the top of any page. Your choice is remembered in that browser. If you have never chosen, the site follows the light or dark setting of your device.
It is built for it: semantic headings, labeled form controls, a skip link, visible focus outlines, keyboard operation throughout, touch targets sized for a phone, and status colors always paired with a text label. Text scales when you zoom or raise your browser's font size. If something is hard to use with a screen reader or a keyboard, that is a bug rather than the intent.
Reload the page first; that clears most display problems. If a saved entry has vanished, check whether your browser cleared site data. The site does not have a contact form or support address yet, so there is nowhere to report a bug at the moment. Terms of use are on the terms page.
Crisis and safety
This site is not built for emergencies. Nothing here is monitored, and no one sees what you write.
- Immediate danger: call 911.
- Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988.
- Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741.
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233.
More numbers and what to expect when you call are on the crisis resources page.
The guide on when to seek professional help lists specific signs to look for instead of leaving it to guesswork. If you decide to start looking, the therapy directory covers ways to find a provider, including lower-cost options.