This is the Emotional Guidance chart from Esther Hicks' book, "Ask and It Is Given"
And the reason that it is important is so you can figure out where you are, and get out if you are in the lower emotions. Or work on the next step higher, if you already made it passed the middle.
Further, and a more important reason is that most people cannot increase their current emotions more than one level. And so, most self help books, and most people's advice to people who are down, is completely wrong, unusable, and may even drive the person lower.
But, if we know where we are, and we have the tools to change our emotional focus, we can move back up the chart.
The law of attraction
This where the law of attraction gets very real. Your current thoughts bring more similar thoughts. And the collection of the thoughts you think throughout the day, set your level on this scale.
It is so easy to go down a step. You got a bad notice, you owe more money than you thought, you start to think more negative thoughts. Those attract more, similar, negative thoughts. And soon, you will start thinking your whole life is a little more negative.
This does happen in reverse.
If you start off your day think the most positive thought you can, it will attract more, similar, positive thoughts. And you will find yourself in a more positive day.
This is why books like "You can't afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought" actually work.
Your normal band
Our thoughts are quite repetitive. Almost ingrained. Habitual. The pathways are well trodden.
And so, the normal person will stay within a certain band on the chart.
If something good happens, even if it makes their whole life better, they will still sink back down to their normal band. The same with most negative things, they will be back up soon.
The problem here is we have a lot of negativity in the world. Most people have more than just a familiarity with the bottom. So, there are things that can knock you out of your normal band, and have you staying depressed, or more depressed.
The opposite is not so true. Most people do not have much experience with higher, more joyful emotions. We even call these people Polyannas. Which has a negative connotation, where we believe these people aren't seeing the real world.
So, we not only don't naturally go to higher emotions, we sorta shy away from them. However, practicing these higher vibrational thoughts will make your life better. And, it is really, serious, you need to focus your mind repeatedly, practice.
The practiced experts can barely jump 4
Moving yourself up the emotional guidance chart is not easy. Your thoughts are very sticky. You need to practice noticing when you are slipping lower on the emotional scale.
Further, when you notice yourself down, you need to focus on a step above. Not the top. You can't go from (8)Boredom (1)Joy. Just like you can't go from (22) Despair to (8) Boredom.
It takes practice going up one step at a time. And this is if you have already been on that level (or higher)
So, when you find yourself down, you slowly pick yourself up.
And here is what is really dangerous.
If you are down at the bottom (22) Despair, Grief, Powerlessness, you have to go up through every 'dark' emotion. Look at them, read them. (21)Guilt (20)Jealousy (19)Hatred (18)Revenge (17)Anger
These emotions are where a person can turn very violent. Very dangerous. So, our psychiatric system tends to avoid this, and just leave the people down at the bottom, where they will only hurt themselves.
And, you can't just skip over them. You have to rise up one level at a time.
Taking Depressants
There are no anti-depressants. The psychiatric community prescribes to people pills that keep people at the bottom, not feeling much of anything. Staying numb.
This is why coming off of SSRIs includes depression and suicide as its side-effects.
Suicide only happens when the person is down at the bottom, level (22) Depression, powerlessness, Despair. And so, if you can help get some up from this level, to start feeling guilt, jealousy or hatred, you can keep them from taking their lives.
So, when your psych prescribes you anti-depressants, they are keeping you stuck at the bottom. And you cannot heal from the emotions while on them.
HOWEVER! If the pain is too much, then these pills do take the edge off. And can allow you to get through this time. Sometimes taking the edge off the emotions is necessary to make any recovery. (you will need to get off them to fully heal, but surviving today takes precedence)
Knowing this emotional guidance chart can make it easier for you to move yourself into a better life. Knowing where you are, and knowing where you want to be makes your path much more visible.
Further, knowing that your emotions are not just some roller-coaster that happens to you, gives you potential control over your life. And the more you practice, the better your control.
And if psychiatry would learn this, they would stop saying things like "he has to hit rock bottom before he can turn around"
Emotional Guidance Scale by Casually Luxe