I initially developed the Yippee-Yuck Scale© as the first step of a process to help individuals discover (and create!) their own stress management tips.
It’s a fairly straightforward type of Likert Scale that invites a sense of one’s current attitude toward something.
That is, on a scale of +3 (which means “Yippee!”) to -3 (which means “Yuck!”), with 0 being neutral. There is no right or wrong answer. Just how one feels in the present moment about a concept or situation.
I often choose the word “snow” to introduce the scale to participants:
For example, as you read the word “snow”, notice for a moment what happens inside. Go with your first reaction and how you feel right now about “snow.” If you were to mark a spot somewhere between Yippee! and Yuck!, which would you choose?
The second step of the exercise depends on whether there’s a single learner or a group:
Single learner: Take a moment to imagine that you are with a group of people, each assigning their own number ranking for their current experience of the word “snow.”
Group: In this case, I invite participants to share their own rankings.
When appropriate, I may even share a “Frank and Ernest” cartoon in which Frank shares all the words he has to describe how he feels about snow.
The third step in the exercise to invite learners to reflect on the fact that a single word (like “snow”) can evoke so many different reactions.
Depending on the overall learning objectives for a given situation, this exercise can serve as either a stand-alone felt-sensing experience or may lead into a deeper exploration about whether/how we react or respond to events in our lives.
In a spirit of heart-centered generosity and recognition that whatever I have created has [at least, in part] been inspired by and/or adapted/derived from what I have learned from others, I offer this exercise using a Creative Commons “some rights reserved” copyright license called CC BY-SA.
CC BY-SA: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.
Although not required, I’d love your feedback and invite you to share your own experiences using these exercises.
