Have you ever been told to ‘be positive’ when you are feeling down and depressed? Did you feel irritated by the ‘good advice’ of the ‘kind soul’? According to ‘Emotional Guidance Scale‘, It is only natural to feel angry when someone gives you a piece of advice that you knew all along. Most of us have encountered this situation at some point or the other in our lives.
Well-intentioned advice like ‘think positive’ or ‘chin up’ is frustrating enough when you are feeling low. But it is more annoying when we try to embrace this advice and fail miserably.
We all know that thinking positively will help us come out of depression, but the question is how? How are we supposed to summon positivity when we are feeling totally down and out. Have you ever wondered why?
Abraham Hicks has explained this dilemma using the Emotional Guidance Scale.
What is the Emotional Guidance Scale?
The Abraham Hicks Emotional Scale is a collection of commonly-felt emotions listed by Abraham Hicks. This incremental list of feelings has Joy – Appreciation – Freedom – Love at the top and Fear – Grief – Desperation – Despair – Powerlessness at the bottom. They are
- Joy – Appreciation – Empowerment – Freedom – Love
- Passion
- Enthusiasm – Eagerness – Happiness
- Positive Expectations – Beliefs
- Optimism
- Hopefulness
- Contentment
- Boredom
- Pessimism
- Frustration – Irritation – Impatience
- Overwhelming
- Disappointment
- Doubt
- Worry
- Blame
- Discouragement
- Anger
- Revenge
- Hatred – Rage
- Jealousy
- Insecurity – Guilt – Unworthiness
- Fear – Grief – Powerlessness – Despair – Depression
Abraham Hicks advocates that when you are feeling low, you first need to identify where you are on the list of emotions and work towards reaching the next level. And, when you feel stable with the new emotional level, move on to the next and so on till you reach the top.
We normally fail in improving our emotional level when we try to move up the scale at a fast pace or make a quantum jump from a low emotional state to a considerably higher one. It is possible to reach the pinnacle of joy even from the lowest depths of the emotional states by taking small steps at a time instead of big leaps.
How does it work?
According to Abraham Hicks, all emotions are energy. And, because it is energy, they take form, undergo change, can move and have a vibrational frequency. They are not permanent; they are continuously changing.
When you are feeling low, the good things that you want to manifest are not a vibrational match to your present state. You need to find ways to climb up the guidance scale until you reach positive feelings at the top to get a shot at achieving your goal. This is where good things are waiting for you.
When you experience joy, we attract good, positive things into our life. Even if you are not in a joyous state, if you are close enough, you will still be attracting what you want. All the top five emotions carry positive vibrations and can help you in manifesting your dreams.
Some basic facts about emotions
We know that feelings are energy and satisfy the properties of energy. We also know that they emit vibrations. But we need to know how we can influence our emotions and elevate them to the next level.
- Our emotions are directly shaped by our thoughts and beliefs.
- Emotions are infectious. They spread to others near us.
- We have an inherent trait to bottle up our feelings. This leads to hatred, rage, insecurity, guilt, unworthiness, despair, powerlessness and depression.
- Whatever level of emotion you have now, feeling bad will make it worse for you while feeling good will improve the situation.
- Despite the troubles that emotions can bring, you cannot eliminate or ignore them. As human beings, we are born with them. It is kind of a package deal. They just exist.
- You need not feel bad about the feelings you are experiencing. You are entitled to have them. Feeling bad will only make matters worse. The best choice is to accept them and do your best to move up the emotions scale.
How to climb up the emotion scale?
The first step in climbing the emotional guidance scale is to identify your position on the list. Then you need to figure out your feelings and thoughts. This step is incredibly important to the success of the process.
Understanding your feelings and thoughts are at times challenging. You may be experiencing a number of them at the same time or they may be complex and tangled. You need to break it down to simple ones and consider all of them while trying to figure out how to climb the guidance scale.
Handling feelings is similar to playing the board game of Chutes and Ladders. You climb up the ladders when you are feeling or thinking positively. And, you slide down the chutes when having negative vibes.
The emotions in the guidance scale listed above ‘Boredom’ are positive feelings and are part of the upward spiral. And, those listed below form the downward spiral,
These are a few techniques you may find helpful in elevating your emotional level.
1. Catch them early
When you wake up in the morning, your mind is calm and devoid of thoughts and feelings. Take control of your mind just as you are leaving your sleeping state and entering the consciousness. This will have a big effect on your emotional state for the day.
You can get a grip on your emotional status by channeling your attention to positive things. Gratitude can work wonders for you. Remember to feel thankful for all the good things you are fortunate to have in life. Just as you are waking up direct your attention to this. These thoughts will make you feel happy and excited.
You will get out of the bed eager to start the day and look forward to all the wonderful things it will bring. This will ensure that you start the day on a positive note, high up in the emotional guidance scale.
You can give an ample boost to this positivity by engaging in feel-good activities such as creative visualization, and meditation. Exercising too have a great impact on the mental state of a person, especially more spiritual-oriented ones like yoga.
2. Deal with negativity
Even when you are trying to raise your positivity, you need to learn to deal with all the negativity you come across in daily life. It is very normal to encounter negativity when you are listening/reading the news or from people with an antagonistic mentality. Or still from self at times when you are feeling low.
Some of the emotions you may feel are frustration, irritation, impatience, despair, powerlessness, insecurity, guilt, unworthiness and depression. In extreme situations, you may even feel fear, grief, hatred, rage, and revenge. You need to know how to turn the tables on these bad feelings.
The most important rule when facing negativity is not to ignore them or blame yourself. Just accept them as an inevitable part of life and move on. Blaming yourself will make matters worse. You will end up further down the emotional guidance scale.
You can counter the negativity you face in life by deliberately turning your attention towards positivity. As positive feelings are more powerful than the negative ones, a 15-minute positivity session daily will be good enough to balance off all the negativity you may come across. You can choose how you want to have these sessions. You can linger on some happy memories of the past or some anticipated event in the future. Make a list or visualize or make a dream board – it doesn’t matter. All of them work.
3. Hold onto your position
As the day progresses, you will be engaged with your regular work and constantly interacting with diverse people such as coworkers, customers, and family. All of these can make you feel stressed and on the edge with frustration, irritation, impatience, and despair.
Taking short 2-minute breaks every hour is the key to managing this situation. These breaks will help you disconnect from stress-causing factors and allow you to continue the work more productively after the break. During the break, you can do deep breathing exercises to make you aware of yourself and bring you back in touch with the moment and your surroundings. This is vital for your overall wellbeing and success.
If you continue your day without these short breaks, you will find yourself stressed out, which is a negative emotion. That will bring you down a few steps in the emotional guidance scale.
Deep breathing may sound too simple a solution to manage your stress. Together with the break, these exercises can achieve the impossible task of keeping you calm and in a positive frame of mind. If not higher, this can at the very least help you maintain your position in the guidance scale.
4. Use your sleep to climb the scale
We spend a big chunk of our time sleeping, practically dead to the world; unaware of ourselves and our surroundings. However, when you are sleeping, your unconscious mind is very much awake.
If you are told that you can use your sleep time productively and climb a few steps in the guidance scale, wouldn’t you grab at the offer and make a go at it? No harm in trying, isn’t it?
If you want to use your sleep time well, you need to concentrate on the time as you are drifting off to sleep. The trick is to keep your feelings in the positive zone of the emotional guidance scale just as you are falling asleep. To this end, you can take up any one of these exercises.
Visualization techniques like dream board and creative visualization are ideal activities to help put you in a positive frame of mind before sleep. A dream board is made up of images of what you want in life. In other words, it reminds you of everything that brings on enthusiasm, eagerness, happiness, and joy. Creative visualization uses imagination and mental images to visualize what you want to happen in the present.
Another simple yet very effective technique to keep you in a happy frame of mind at sleep time is to contemplate all the events of the day that brought you joy. When you are listing them in your mind, you can add the feeling of gratitude for extra mileage. When you do this mental drill at the end of every day, it will be easy for you to remember even the inconsequential events that warmed your heart.
As you drift off to sleep with such positive thoughts. your unconscious mind will carry on its work while you rest. It will put you in a good frame of mind when you wake up in the morning.
5. Engage in fun activities
You can take up any activity that will make you feel good. Such as listening to music, reading a book, spending time with friends, exercising, or solving a puzzle. The enthusiasm, eagerness, happiness, and joy you feel while doing something will raise your positivity and help you climb the steps in the emotional guidance scale.
Conclusion
Irrespective of your position in the emotional guidance scale, celebrate even the smallest of the climb. It means that you are successful in taking charge of your feelings. Even if you face unexpected setbacks and find yourself spiraling down the chute, don’t despair and give up. Get back up on your feet and search for ways to climb the scale. Do not forget that ups and downs are part of life.
Related: 5 Ways to Increase Willpower