How to Overcome Negative Thoughts using the emotional guidance scale
You ever been stuck in a bad mood and unable to get yourself out of it? Whether it was hopelessness, guilt, anger or fear, I want you to know that you indeed have the power to overcome negative thoughts and shift into a better mood, just by becoming aware of your emotions and taking action. It may seem impossible BUT… if you understand how emotions work then it will seem more practical.
One way to understand your emotions is by way of the emotional guidance scale. An emotional guidance scale is a heirarchy of emotions, ranging from low vibrational/negative emotions at the bottom of the list, and works its way up to high vibrational/positive emotions. If you struggle to manage your emotions, or if your emotions are keeping you from being in alignment with your manifestation, then this blog will show you how to use the emotional guidance scale to take control of your life.
Understanding the Emotional Guidance Scale
As humans, we all experience a wide range of emotions. There are hundreds of different words we use to describe these different experiences, but for the sake of explaining the emotional guidance scale, I’m going to discuss only 30 emotions. If you look at the list below, you will see that they exist at 12 levels of intensity:
1. Joy/Appreciation/Empowered/Love
2. Passion/Enthusiasm/Happiness
3. Positive Expectation/Belief
4. Optimism/Hopefulness
5. Contentment/Boredom
6. Pessimism/Frustration/Uncertainty
7. Overwhelmment/Disappointment/Doubt
8. Worry/Anxiety
9. Anger/Revenge
10. Hatred/Rage
11. Sadness/Grief/Guilt
12.Fear/Despair/Powerlessness
The most neutral emotional level is 5—contentment and boredom. This level has the lowest emotional intensity. As you move up or down the emotional scale, the emotions become more intensely felt.Everything above level 5 is pleasant, while the emotions listed below level 5 are unpleasant. Notice that it’s not about identifying which ones are “good” and which ones are “bad” because all emotions are good. They serve a purpose by reflecting what is going on in our lives or in our minds.
It all boils down to deciding which emotions are “wanted” or “unwanted”. Even this can be tricky, because if you’re feeling bored you’d obviously prefer to feel passion, however if you’re feeling hatred, revenge is actually an improvement. Moving UP the scale is always a relief from where you were and, feels good in comparison to the lower levels. When you move from despair to anger, it feels better, and then when you find your way to frustration, you feel better… then you find hope and you’ve crossed the threshold into the “wanted” or positive emotions—but ultimately the goal is to keep going until you reach your desired emotion.
Moving up the Scale...
One important note is that you cannot jump very high up the emotional guidance scale all at once. The thought processes and physiological states of each level have a strong momentum that keeps you feeling the way you do. By deliberately reaching for a better feeling thought you can move your way up the scale incrementally, like the example I mentioned about moving from despair to anger to frustration to hope.
Just like you can move from hatred to revenge to disappointment to hope, you can also move from boredom to optimism to enthusiasm. But you can’t jump from anger to joy or from hatred to love. The gap is too wide. For the sake of the topic of overcoming negative thoughts, I’m going to focus on overcoming 3 common unpleasant or negative emotions:
- Uncertainty/Insecurity
- Anxiety/worry
- Fear
Overcoming Fear
Fear is the most intense level of emotion. It can be completely overwhelm our minds and bodies. Fear if not checked can turn into anxiety or phobias. Chronic fear can affect our physical health in a number of ways including headaches, migraines, muscle aches, fibromyalgia, body aches, chronic pain, breathing issues andf possibly asthma.
Regardless of what it causes, fear is nothing more than the belief that you are under threat or will experience pain or danger. When you’re in a state of fear, nothing else matters or exists but to protect yourself and get to safety. You are operating in survival mode. The object of your fear can be real or imagined (which is explained here).
If you want to overcome fear or fear based thoughts, you must first recognize what you are afraid of and find a way to past that fear. If you are afraid of losing someone, then the next logical step would be to embrace the sadness or grief. It may seem backwards but, actually feeling hatred or revenge would be an even bigger jump than feeling sorrow. Recognizing that you are moving out of fear should help you feel better to know that you are at the very least making progress.
Using the Emotional Guidance Scale to work through Anxiety
Anxiety is less intense than fear, and if allowed to spiral out of control it can lead to fear, which is a direction we want to try to avoid. When we feel anxious we tend to feel of worry, nervousness or unease. These feelings typically arise because of anticipation about a future event that has the potential to be unpleasant or uncertain. Regardless if the future event is imminent or far into the future, anxiety can creep in and wreak havoc in our lives.
Now if you suffer from chronic anxiety then using the emotional guidance scale can be difficult to do and you may need to start on working through any imbalances to help you control your symptoms first.
However, if you suffer from mild anxiety and have a high level of emotional intelligence, then using the emotional guidance scale is a perfect tool to help you improve your mood about the situation. Now if you want to work your out of anxiety, then the next step on the emotional guidance scale is doubt or disappointment. So if you are getting anxious or worrying about something, like a presentation or an exam, then sometimes just accepting the possibility of disappointment, or allowing doubt to seep in, can be a good thing. Allowing yourself to be frustrated, although its still uncomfortable, is still a better feeling to have than anxiety. You have to remember that the point of the emotional guidance scale is to move up the scale. So if you move from anxiety to doubt, then its possible for you to move from doubt to pessimism to hopefulness and eventually joy.
Overcoming Uncertainty/Insecurity
Uncertainty and insecurities are two of the most common human emotions. We all experience them at some point in our lives, and they can be very debilitating. Fortunately, the emotional guidance scale can be a great tool to help you overcome both. When you are feeling insecure, you are operating from a low emotional vibration and failing to recognize your access to Divine Power and unlimited potential. To raise your vibration, you can do some of the following:
- Pinpoint what specifically you are feeling insecure about. Is it something that you specifically did? Was it something that you were told?
- Determine whether your feelings are valid. Are you overanalyzing the situation? Suffering from imposter syndrome? Are you really not prepared?
- Focus on positive thoughts and emotions that prove your insecurities wrong. If you are feeding off of the opinions of others, then say that. If you can find proof of people being successful by taking the same plan of action as you, then believe you are capable too. If you sincerely feel that you have more work to do to improve your situation, then take action or set plans in motion to do so.
- Practice gratitude, meditation, and visualization exercises that take your mind off of your insecurities
As you raise your vibration, you will start to feel more confident and secure. You will also be better able to cope with uncertainty and change.
Now uncertainty is less intense than anxiety, however continued thinking along these lines leads to a worsening of the state to anxiety. Uncertainty is a feeling of apprehension, resistance, suspicion, or lack of confidence when you believe outcomes are unpredictable or risky. Often people use the word insecurity to refer to similar feelings. Regardless of which word you prefer to use, feeding into feelings of uncertainty separates you from the Divine. As long as you remember who you are through the eyes of the Universe, or your Divine Creator, then you should have nothing to feel uncertain or insecure about.
The more intense an emotion is the more challenging it is to change them. For this reason, the goal is to catch the emotion at “uncertainty” and stop yourself before your mind has a chance to spiral down into anxiety or fear. This is also why it is important to have a firm foundation in your faith, whether you believe in God, the Universe, or yourself. If you are struggling with uncertainty and insecurities, I encourage you to try using the emotional guidance scale coupled with scriptures from your faith. Together, they can be a powerful tool for change.
The Missing Piece: Heart Coherence & Emotional Alignment
At this point, you might be thinking:
“Okay, I understand the scale… I just need to shift my thoughts.”
And while that’s true to an extent—it’s not the full picture because shifting your emotional state isn’t just a mental process…
it’s a mind-body-heart process. Your thoughts don’t exist in isolation. They’re influenced by your nervous system, your physiology, and something we don’t talk about nearly enough—your heart.
Your Heart Is More Involved Than You Think
Most people think of the heart as just a pump, but your heart is constantly communicating with your brain, sending signals that influence how you feel, how you think, and even how you perceive situations. In fact, your emotions are not just “in your head.”
They’re part of a feedback loop between your heart, brain, and body.
Which explains why:
- You can’t always “logic” your way out of stress
- Positive affirmations feel forced when you’re overwhelmed
- And sometimes… your body reacts before your mind understands why
That’s not a lack of discipline.
That’s your system doing exactly what it’s designed to do.
Heart Coherence: The State That Changes Everything
When you’re stressed, anxious, or stuck in negative thought patterns, your internal state becomes incoherent. Your heart rhythm is irregular. Your nervous system is on edge. Your brain is receiving mixed signals. And from that state…
it’s incredibly hard to access better-feeling thoughts.
But when you experience emotions like gratitude, calm, or appreciation, something shifts. Your system becomes coherent. Your heart rhythm stabilizes. Your nervous system begins to regulate. And your brain becomes more receptive to clarity, solutions, and perspective.
This is why practices like gratitude or breathwork feel so powerful they’re more than just “nice habits,” they’re physiological resets.
Why Your Heart Often Knows Before Your Mind Does
Have you ever had a moment where:
- Something felt off… but you couldn’t explain why
- You just knew a decision wasn’t right for you
- Or you felt pulled toward something before you had logical proof
That’s not random. That’s your body, specifically your heart, processing information faster than your conscious mind can interpret it. We tend to override those signals because they don’t always make sense in the moment, but when you slow down and actually tune in, you start to realize that your thoughts are often catching up to what your body already knows.
The Emotional Guidance Scale Keeps You in control
Remember, when it comes to the emotional guidance scale, you’re not trying to solve the problem, you’re just trying to find a better way of thinking about the problem that makes you feel better. The Emotional Guidance Scale isn’t just about climbing into “better thoughts.” It’s about creating the internal conditions that make those thoughts accessible, because if your body is in stress, your mind will keep producing thoughts that match that state.
However, when you regulate your system (when you create even a moment of coherence), your thoughts begin to shift naturally.
Not forced.
Not scripted.
Just… available.
Of course when you learn how to master the emotional guidance scale, it will be easier to search for better “feeling” thoughts about the subject that’s bothering you. And when you change your mood, you change your vibration which can change your point of attraction. If you need help managing your emotions, then my Happiness Reset Blueprint will teach you how to boost your emotional intelligence so you can shift into a healthier, happier life with ease. Just visit the Resources Hub for more information about it, or click here. I hope this helps.
In Good Health,
Amber Stewart BS, ACSM-EP, CTNC, TBMM-CES
Holistic Nutritionist | Stress Alchemist & Mental Wellness Coach
Hi! My name is Amber and I’m a Body Goals Builder, Master Life Coach, Certified Health Coach, CTNC Mental Health Specialist, Stress Alchemist & Fear Conqueror
For 11 years, I worked as a personal trainer, helping people reach their fitness goals in the gym. But I kept noticing that many people weren’t reaching them simply because they were using exercise as an escape to “sweat out” their life problems instead of addressing them at their core. After realizing that I was doing the same thing in my life, I developed a simple 4 step Stress Alchemy framework to help me overcome roadblocks in all areas of my life and now I coach others on how to do the same. At the STEW Project, we are maximizing our living potential by Simply Taking an Emphasis on Wellness.
1 Comment
Your article helped me a lot, is there any more related content? Thanks!