I've got something quick and easy for you today, Reader 💖

Can you actually measure happiness?

It's a bit of a loaded question, isn't it?

Happiness can feel so subjective. One day you’re doing okay, the next you’re overwhelmed, and sometimes you don’t even realise how much has shifted until you stop and look back.

But what if you actually had a way to see the change? To have a way that doesn't rely on a therapist, or a GP, or any friends to validate your progress.

In my book, The Glorious Responsibility of Happiness, I share an exercise called The Emotional Scale.

And I’ve popped it here for you to try today.

Take a couple of quiet minutes.

Close your eyes. Get present in your body. Take a breath and consciously soften your muscles.

Then, without overthinking it, give each emotion on the scale a number between 0 and 10.

The important bit?

Don’t judge the number.

You’re not trying to get a “good” score.

You’re simply taking a snapshot of where you are right now.

Then write a date approximately eight weeks from today at the top of the second column, and place new projected numbers for even the slightest shift you'd like to be feeling by then.

Pop it somewhere safe and come back to it then and revisit the exercise.

Because healing and personal growth can be hard to see when you’re consumed by all the things each day.

We tend to notice how far we still have to go, rather than how far we’ve already come.

We are so quick to criticise ourselves, when we should be championing ourselves.

This little exercise gives you something tangible to come back to.

Your sadness might have shifted.

Your dread may have passed.

Your calm might have grown.

Your happiness might have quietly crept from a 4 to a 6 without you even noticing.

That matters.

Because happiness isn’t necessarily about waking up one morning and suddenly feeling completely different.

Sometimes it’s noticing that life feels 10% lighter than it used to.

And then another 10%.

And another.

This exercise comes from my book, The Glorious Responsibility of Happiness, which is filled with reflections to consider your mindset and perspective, to take responsibility for what you can change, and consciously create more of the life you want to live.

In my private community, The Healing Circle, we visit this exercise regularly and take things one step further to plan how you can take steps towards the projected numbers.

Come and join us for our next call (there's two each month).

If you’d like to explore more of the book, you can grab your copy here.

Big love,

Ali x