Emotional Intelligence - a key skill

Consider a situation where you've forgotten a schedule for an important meeting and you got there a bit late. The leader of your team yells at you harshly for your lateness in front of everyone at the meeting, maybe he is in an emotional stress. At that moment, you would be experiencing a feeling of embarrassment, anger and sadness but you would bottle up all these emotions and you would apologize for your act. We would have all been left in such an intricate situation where a set of complex emotions block our brain without our consciousness.

So ,what are these emotions? Why should we've to take them into consideration? Let's look out the answers for these questions in this article,

Emotions can be simply defined as a brief response to the challenges and opportunities we face in our daily life. The use of the term " brief" has to be highlighted here. These responses won't last for longer periods . If we notice well on our anger, sadness and even happiness, they last only for shorter periods, ranging from a few seconds to half-an-hour. If they last longer, these feelings become associated with our mood. Emotion and mood are two different entities.

Five types of emotions personified in the movie INSIDE OUT, image source:Flickr-BagoGames

"Inside out ", one of the heartfelt animated movies I've ever watched, portrays some wonderful scenes on psychology of human emotions. Much of the movie picturizes the battle among the emotions happening inside a 11-year old girl, Railey's head. We could infer from this movie that how spontaneous our emotions are, in inducing our physical expressions. In reality we could see this spontaneity of emotions leading to sudden actions in children and in other animals but not in a civilized human being. We slow down our spontaneity and manipulate the action resulting from our emotion for the well being of oneself or for the good cause of the society or a team. This act of a civilized human being defines our emotional intelligence.

Like intelligence quotient(IQ), a term that rates our cognitive ability, Emotional Intelligence/Emotional quotient (EQ) rates our ability of recognizing and regulating our emotions for our mindfulness and for taking good actions. EI is an excellent skill of putting our thoughts and feelings together for making better decisions. Its components include:

‌Emotional self-awareness

You should be aware of what you are going through. Sometimes it would be really hard to state clearly what you're feeling. But, verily the more you gain awareness of our own emotions, the better you'll be able to empathize well with others

‌Using emotions as a basic grammar for social interaction

No one has the magical power of understanding you without you expressing yourself a bit. Certain social cues like facial expressions, vocalizations, gaze and gestures define your emotions clearly and it helps you bind with people of your interest very well. Also look for the social cues that others are expressing while you are listening to them.

‌Using emotions wisely in social contexts

In a social environment, regulate your emotions for a positive result. A good leader never lets his temper flare out of control at any cause. He would listen to his people's opinions and suggests corrections in a diplomatic way without offending them.

‌Considering emotions while making decisions

It's an essential step when it comes to making decision. Never make any important decisions when you are at the control of some emotions like anger or excitement. Such states keep you in a unstable state. An unstable mind promises things that you are not actually intended to do. With a neutral state of mind one could be able to make wise and rational decisions.

In addition, people with higher EQ ,

• ‌Avoid criticizing others(unhealthy criticism that couldn't be helpful for anyone)

• Never dwell in their past mistakes or overthink about their future

• ‌Never nurture unrealistic expectations from other people

The above stated components and hints are the quick summary of the things about EI.

Whenever we introspect any problem deeply, be it professional or personal, at the basal root, we could find these human emotions playing a vital part. Imagine how less our conflicts and chaos would be if we understand and act wisely with this excellent skill. There would be a better team work when a leader possesses this skill and relationship would flourish better for a person analyzing and valuing the emotions.

Even the researches are saying ,for successful academic results a person's IQ may help but the EQ level judges the person's success in work place as higher EQ makes the person not only a good team player but also a great leader.

There is no doubt that human beings are all social animals, the term "sociality" is what really makes our species a dominant one and makes us stand out from the rest of the species in our world. It's about how well we are cooperating for the betterment of human race. And for better cooperation, if something in us or something we can develop could help, what else is stopping us?

Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.

- Aristotle

Think | Introspect| Act