Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to monitor one’s own and other people’s emotions, to
discriminate between different emotions and label them appropriately, and to use emotional
information to guide thinking and behavior.

EI is like IQ with emotions. How do you know what you are feeling (noticing body sensation)? How do you communicate that with others (verbal, non verbal)? Do you share with words or with actions (telling someone vs giving them a cold shoulder)? Can you label accurately what you are feeling (anger vs sadness)? Is there space between stimulus and your response (do you react immediately, take a breath and determine the next course of action)?

This isn’t something that is typically taught. In fact many of us are taught not to listen to ourselves. For example, “You just ate, you can’t be hungry again,” You just went to the bathroom, you can wait,” “Don’t cry, it’s ok, it’s not that bad.”

Homework: There are a ton of tests and quizzes for you to determine your EI. Take one and determine where you are, what do you want to change, what are your strengths?145H

 

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