Emotional Guidance Scale

What it is

The Emotional Guidance Scale is a 22-level ranked list of emotions — from joy, love, and appreciation at the top down to fear, grief, and powerlessness at the bottom — introduced by Esther Hicks in the 2004 book "Ask and It Is Given." The core premise is that emotions are real-time feedback about your mental state, and that you can shift your mood intentionally by reaching for thoughts that feel even slightly better than where you currently are. The key discipline is incremental movement: going from fear to worry, or from worry to doubt, rather than trying to leap from despair to joy in one session. Practitioners use it both as a daily self-check and as a targeted tool when stuck in a low emotional state.

How to do it

1. Pause and identify your current emotion as honestly as you can — name it without judgment.
2. Find that emotion on the 22-rung scale: 1 is joy/love/empowerment, 22 is fear/grief/despair.
3. Identify the emotion one or two rungs above yours on the scale (e.g., if you are at blame #15, aim for discouragement #16 or worry #14).
4. Reach for a thought — any thought — that genuinely produces that slightly higher emotion. Do not force positivity; aim only for marginal relief.
5. Stay with that thought until the new feeling feels stable, then repeat the process, climbing one rung at a time.
6. Stop when you reach a state that feels neutral or better (contentment #7 is a practical resting point). Do not push for joy from a low state in one session.

What people use it for

• general emotional regulation and mood improvement
• manifestation and law of attraction alignment
• moving out of depression, grief, or anxiety incrementally
• self-awareness and identifying subconscious emotional states
• specific person (SP) relationship manifestation
• career and money manifestation readiness
• daily morning or evening check-in practice

Where it comes from

Developed by Esther Hicks (channeling the entity 'Abraham') with her husband Jerry Hicks, introduced in the book "Ask and It Is Given" published by Hay House in 2004. The scale appeared in Chapter 22 of that book and became one of the most widely reproduced tools from Abraham Hicks teachings.