A Quiet Tool for Self-Awareness
The Inner Life Is Not Always What It Seems
The inner life isn’t always what it seems.
You can function, engage, even thrive outwardly—while something quiet but heavy lives underneath.
This page offers a simple, honest way to reflect on how you’re truly doing.
Not a diagnosis. Not a label. Just a way to see more clearly, from the inside out.
The commonly used models of mental health, like the “euthymic rhythm,” often fail to capture this complexity. They suggest that low mood always shows up as poor functioning, or that emotional wellbeing means external success. But many people live in a gap between their outer presentation and their inner world—a kind of silent mismatch.
I know how hard it can feel to be struggling while keeping up a routine that no one would suspect masks pain. So I’ve developed a more reflective tool. One that honours the full spectrum of our lived experience.
The Dual-Axis Reflective Mood Scale
This tool allows us to assess three core dimensions of our mental-emotional state:
1. Internal Mood – how you’re really feeling inside
2. Outer Functioning – how you’re appearing and acting in the world
3. Existential Alignment – whether your life feels in harmony with your deeper self
Axis 1: Internal Mood
| Score | Meaning |
| +3 | Inner joy, spiritual clarity |
| +2 | Calm, optimistic, well-supported |
| +1 | Slight worry or sadness, manageable |
| 0 | Flat, numb, emotionally neutral |
| –1 | Low mood, anxiety, sense of unease |
| –2 | Despair, painful thoughts, isolation |
| –3 | Suicidal ideation, emotional crisis |
Axis 2: Outer Functioning
| Score | Meaning |
| +3 | Highly engaged, social, productive |
| +2 | Stable routines, able to show up |
| +1 | Doing the basics with effort |
| 0 | Present but passive, autopilot |
| –1 | Letting things slide, withdrawn |
| –2 | Avoiding people or responsibilities |
| –3 | Unable to function, visible breakdown |
Axis 3: Existential Alignment
| Score | Meaning |
| +3 | Deeply aligned with your purpose |
| +2 | Living mostly in truth |
| +1 | Dissonance is there but manageable |
| 0 | Unsure, disconnected from meaning |
| –1 | Living in ways that contradict your values |
| –2 | Feeling lost, misaligned |
| –3 | A painful rift between soul and life path |
Why use this framework?
It is sometime difficult to express ourselves. To speak clearly about how we are. It is also helpful to track how we are over time without shame. Tracking makes it easier to link our health and wellbeing with our habits, ways of thinking, activities and external influences. We all need to pause and reflect sometimes this is just one example of how to start the process.
We can use this reflective framework in our sessions, or you can try it out in quiet journaling moments and see if it helps.
This tool is part of a wider rhythm of restoration.
Movement, food, stillness, and reflection all help us reconnect with ourselves.
If you’d like support in using this model we offer sessions and group experiences designed to help.
Inside to Outside 