Some people seem to always be able to tell how everyone is feeling, recognizing the energy in the room without even saying a word. These people possess a skill that many fail to acquire. They have the beautiful gift of emotional intelligence.
Those who possess a strong sense of emotional intelligence can read a room as if they were turning the pages of a book. They immediately know who is just there to impress and who is there to be genuinely true to themselves.
However, emotions tend to rule the lives of many people who fail to recognize the importance of responding to their emotions. Emotional intelligence is a gift, a skill developed over time by understanding our own emotions and the emotions of others. We can choose how we respond to situations that present themselves to us based on the emotions that arise.
Developing Strong Emotional Intelligence
Imagine that you’re sitting in the middle of a meeting, and your boss is proposing a new position for the company to create. You love the position, and you believe that it is necessary to have this skill in your workplace. However, half of the staff members strongly disagree with the proposal to open a new position within the company.
Suddenly, the tension in the room grows. Anger reddens the faces of the company members who disagree with the proposal, and your feelings of hope and excitement for the future dissipate into a puddle of concern. You fail to understand what you are feeling and why your emotions switch in an instant.
Developing emotional intelligence helps you to understand where these emotions arise from and how to respond to high-conflict situations. Emotional intelligence is a prized trait for leaders to develop in the workplace, especially when trying to understand the concerns of other employees.
Emotional intelligence keeps you from flying off the handle when the tension is high and cultivates a calm and collected workspace. Developing self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management combine to create a deeply emotionally intelligent person. These traits are prized in everyday life and in the business world.
Emotional Intelligence in Everyday Life
Although having a high EQ might seem important for leaders in the workspace, one may argue that emotional intelligence is even more important to have in everyday life. All of your relationships depend on your ability to work with others, understand conflict, and read the emotions of those around you.
Your emotional intelligence is a large indicator of your satisfaction in your personal relationships and your overall happiness.
Peace and tranquility within a home begin with an understanding of why your family members act the way that they do. We all have emotions; they are a gift, and life would be void of all joy without emotion. Learning how to target our emotions based on each situation helps us to articulate what is actually going on around us.
Managing our emotions creates an internal safety to be able to understand the perspective of others without immediately judging them based on an initial reaction. Emotional intelligence is a superpower that can be harnessed by those who desire to understand themselves and those around them.
Tips to Increase Emotional Intelligence
Increasing emotional intelligence begins with simply recognizing our emotions in the moment. However, there are strategies that we can practice to train our minds to act rather than react to situations.
Here are a few skills to build emotional intelligence:
- Practicing self care such as eating healthy and exercising
- Setting a positive intention for the day that you come back to when situations begin to escalate
- Practicing mindfulness and appreciating beauty
- Journaling about your feelings and your responses
We can all build emotional intelligence, and to be successful at life, we must put in the time to understand ourselves and others.
References:
https://www.aafp.org/pubs/fpm/issues/2018/0100/p11.html
https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/emotional-intelligence-in-leadership
https://www.simplypsychology.org/examples-of-emotional-intelligence.html