How to become more emotionally intelligent?

How to become more emotionally intelligent

We have all come across different buzz words with respect to Emotions.  ‘Emotionally Intelligent person’, ‘Emotional Quotient (EQ)’, ‘Emotional Intelligence (EI)’ etc. in our day-to-day life. Phrases like“X is emotionally very stable and strong” and “Y’s emotional quotient and Emotional Intelligence helps him to function better at work.” are common in today’s world. There is a lot of debate in leadership space about the contribution of Emotional Quotient and Intelligence quotient in one’s success, hence Emotional Intelligence training in India demand is also on the rise, outside India in Western countries it has been quite popular for a long time. A lot of studies and self-development experts have suggested that EQ contribution to one’s success is highly underestimated.  How to become more emotionally intelligent is the buzz word in the corporates and people are willing to increase their Emotional Intelligence.

Have you ever wondered what the word means in reality? It’s certainly not a new concept and has been subtly lying in the background playing its role for ages.  The Emotional Intelligence Coach Practitioner programs are in great demand, considering EI plays a vital part in corporate success.  In this post we will explore, What is Emotional Intelligence, and How to become more emotionally intelligent?

Emotional Intelligence is the capability of humans to understand their own emotions and those of others, differentiate between different feelings, and label them accordingly. It also means using emotional information strategically and guiding their behaviors in a certain appropriate way to ensure self-management and self-control in difficult situations.

What is Emotional Intelligence?

To break it down in extremely simpler terms, Emotional Intelligence is:

• To recognize and understand our very emotions. Be it sadness, happiness, jealousy or scared. This means to be extremely self-aware.
• To be able to manage, control, and change our emotions, actions, moods, and responses. This is known as the act of self-management.
• To be able to use our emotions to motivate ourselves, to commit to doing a certain thing and to follow through the process. This is to be determined to work towards a goal.
• To be able to look at the feelings of others around us, understanding their emotions and utilizing that knowledge to build better relationships with them. This means to be socially aware.
• To be able to build relationships in general, to be able to lead and participate in things that matter. This is what people call relationship management skills.

Emotional Intelligence plays a very big role in nearly everything that concerns our daily life. EI training in India is part of our Certified ICF Coach Program and is delivered by global guru Vikram Dhar the best NLP trainer in India, and the best ICF Coach Trainer and Mentor in India. The contributions of it may vary depending on situations, but they matter nonetheless.

How emotional intelligence helps one in leading a balanced life?

• Physical health:

It becomes extremely hard to find time for the wellness of our bodies in today’s fast lives. There is a lot of stress that eventually shows on our bodies. Emotional Intelligence plays a big role in managing that stress and knowing when it’s time to shut the work and focus on self.

• Mental well being:

Good Emotional Intelligence goes a long way in keeping a positive attitude and outlook towards life. It helps in fighting anxiety and helps in getting over mood swings and low mental state of mind

• Relationships:

Relationships are built on respect, understanding and a lot of communication. EI helps in communicating our deepest fears and emotions in a very constructive manner. It also allows you to look at a problem from the other person’s point of view.

• Conflict resolution:

It is extremely easy to get into a conflict when opinions change. There are both constructive and destructive ways of dealing with it. Emotional Intelligence allows you to look at the problem as just a problem and not as something personal. This helps in solving the problem and finding a constructive way of looking for a solution.

• Success:

This is a relative term in today’s world. However, a lot of parameters go into making someone successful. EI helps in keeping oneself motivated even in the darkest of hours. It helps people to push themselves to their absolute limits. It tells them when it is okay to just let go and stop and for a break.

• Leadership:

The ability to understand what motivates others and what irritates others is crucial. Every person is different than the other and has different ways they function. Emotional Intelligence enables you to understand specific ways and how to approach people in a way they like. How to become more emotionally intelligent is one of the widely used searched terms and there is a reason as it has been identified as a key skill for success in life.

Emotional Intelligence is certainly not something that someone is born with, it is acquired over time. Unlike Intelligence quotient or IQ, emotional quotient can be developed by practice and improved over time. It is better to attend a face to face Emotional Intelligence training in India to become better at Emotional Intelligence. Meanwhile, here are some simple tips by which you can up your emotional Intelligence game, which will help you with how to become more emotionally intelligent?

How to become more emotionally intelligent?

1. Observe your feelings and those of the others around you:

It’s easy to just forget our emotions and get busy thinking about better ways of doing a thing. This is why instead of taking care of our emotions we choose to just let them go. What we don’t understand is that these emotions pile up and lead to bigger problems in the future. Understand why you feel a certain emotion at a certain time. Try to spend time figuring out ways to deal with these emotions. This is a starting point for how to become more emotionally intelligent.

2. Understand the difference between responding and reacting. Always respond and never react.

Reciting is an unconscious reaction where we behave in the same unconscious way that expresses our emotion. Most often than not, it’s not the best outcome for the problem or statement. However, responding is a very conscious process where you read the situation and pay attention to your feelings and then decide how to respond.

3. Stay grounded at all times.

It’s extremely important to be humble to be able to grow in life. The logic behind this is simple when you believe you don’t miss anything you don’t work any further. It’s important to be grounded to be able to see your shortcomings and to be able to work on them. Make use of your emotional intelligence to look at things that haven’t met your expectations and look at solving them with optimism. Always try to look at things from different perspectives. If possible try to imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes and see the problem unfold.

4. Meditation: Simple meditation can help build self-awareness, self-management and social awareness skills.

Sit quietly in a comfortable chair, and look at a dot on the wall, 10-12 feet in front. Focus on the dot, and notice the thoughts that come in your conscious awareness, and whenever that happens, acknowledge them, say ‘Interesting’, and allow them to flow out of your conscious awareness.  Continue to do this for all the thoughts that come.  One of the most powerful techniques when it comes to How to become more emotionally intelligent.

Breathing pattern: Sit comfortably in a chair. Slowly inhale from your nose, feel the air going into your lungs, then exhale from your mouth, and feel the air moving out from your body.

Inhale for X (let’s say 5-6 seconds) time, then pause for X (5-6 seconds) time, exhale 2X (10-11 seconds) times, and then pause for X time, before repeating the cycle.  Do this activity 15 minutes every day to increase self-awareness and self-management.