Emotional Intelligence and EQ

In recent years, emotional intelligence has come to the spotlight. Unlike the intelligence quotient, or IQ, EQ, or the emotional quotient, has only recently been recognized as being key to a person's success and happiness in life. In fact, some may even argue that EQ is an even more important component of a person's success and happiness in life than is IQ. Therefore, it is critical, that we look into this key aspect of the human personality and how to make the best use of it. To harness the power of your emotional intelligence and to be a more emotionally intelligent person, you can:

Cultivate and allow your emotions time to blossom.  Be with your emotions. Allow them to come to full blossom. Let your emotions surface. Have some feeling. This is because if you have been so out of touch with yourself, you may not even be feeling very much. You may have been quite robot-like. However, if you just spend some quiet time by yourself, and let yourself feel, you will be able to allow your emotions time to surface. Only then will you be able to pay attention to your emotions.

Pay attention to your emotions.  Essentially, emotional intelligence simply means to pay attention to how you are feeling, and to use that information to act intelligently. To pay attention to your emotions, you must be aware of them and be aware of how you are feeling. Are you feeling happy/unhappy/anxious/relaxed? Do not ignore how you feel. Instead, use this information to guide your actions.

Do not feel guilty.  Do not feel guilty that you are feeling a certain emotion. Perhaps it is not such an admirable emotion, such as jealousy. However, it has surfaced due to a certain reason. If you do feel jealous, for example, perhaps you can take certain measures to remove your jealous emotions, or you can perhaps take steps to rectify the situation. Therefore, take advantage that you have unlocked your emotion, and use this knowledge to your advantage instead of saying that you should not be having this emotion.

Act in a reasonable manner.  If you are angry, for example, about a certain situation, using emotional intelligence does not give you the liberty to go smash someone else's car or engage in any type of activity to release that anger. It does mean, however, to find a reasonable way to vent off your emotion. For example, some people find it therapeutic to talk to other people about certain transgressions, while other people find it soothing to write about their problems. Therefore, try to find a reasonable and therapeutic method to act according to the emotion that you have harnessed. Often, this therapeutic method is all that is need to, for example, vent the anger, and you may actually feel much better.

Therefore, to harness the power of your emotional intelligence, try to 

A. Cultivate and allow your emotions time to blossom.

B. Pay attention to your emotions.

C. Do not feel guilty.

D. Act in a reasonable manner.

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