Scaling Your Emotions

Our emotions play a huge part in how we react and behave. Our feelings have a way of showing through even when we are doing our best to ‘conceal’ them. 

How do you get to a more joyful place? How do you get from a place of darkness to being content or all the way to passionate?

First, you need to identify where you are now. What emotions are you experiencing frequently and what brings them to the surface?

You can start the process by keeping a log of your feelings on a daily basis. One way to do this is to use an emotion framework that expresses the varying levels of emotions and words that potentially fit in each of the levels.

Secondly, you need to note the different levels of emotion you experience during the course of the day (so you may experience level 3 once and level 7 three times). Also try to note where you were, who you were with and what you were doing – especially if there is a sudden swing in your emotions.

Here is an example framework to use:

Lvl 10: Love, passion, empowered, confident, assertive, gratitude, joyful

Lvl 9: Happy, enthusiastic, keen, excited

Lvl 8: Optimistic, positive, self-belief

Lvl 7: Content, willing, hopeful

Lvl 6: Unchallenged, bored, gloomy, cynical

Lvl 5: Edgy, overwhelmed, discouraged, irritated

Lvl 4: Self-doubt, disappointed, unhappy, hurt

Lvl 3: Blaming, disheartened, concerned

Lvl 2: Angry, bitter, jealous, hateful, spiteful, unforgiving

Lvl 1: Unworthy, guilty, failure, insecure, depressed, feelings of being out of control

On a scale of 1-10 (1 being never felt and 10 being felt mainly) mark your emotional state over the next 7 days.

I experienced THESE levels each day:

Lvl1    Lvl2    Lvl3    Lvl4    Lvl5    Lvl6    Lvl7    Lvl8    Lvl9    Lvl10

MON

TUES

WED

THURS

FRI

SAT

SUN

At the end of the week review your findings by answering these questions:

How many days did you go through more than 3 levels of emotions and how extreme were they? (What occurred to take you from one emotion to the other?)

Were there some days that were similar? (Are your days consistently the same or are you challenging yourself, doing different things?)

Were there times of the day that brought the same level of emotion? (You may have a time of day that works really well for you and another time that does not – some people are morning people and some people are night owls!)

When you were nearest the Level 1 what were you doing? (So you can do less of it or change the way you do it)

When you were nearest the Level 10 what were you doing? (So you can do more of it bringing more joy into your day/week)

Who influenced your emotions negatively and positively? (Know who is good to be around and who, perhaps, to spend less time with)

This is one tool to use to get an idea of what influences how you feel on a day to day basis. Your aim is to do more of what makes you feel 7-10 on the scale and less of what makes you feel 1-6.

And once you’ve tried it out, let us know how you got on, if there were any aha moments or if raising your awareness empowered you to better manage your emotions.

Live Blissfully,

YvonneB