🧙 Emotional Intelligence 🧙
What does it all mean basil?
The dictionary defines EQ as "the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically."
If you are asking me, emotional intelligence is the ability to understand the way that we percieve, think, react, & behave in relation to everything we experience in life. I can think of many experiences in life where EQ plays an important role, some of these include relationships (social, family, romantic), work, dealing with greif, sports (team & individual).
EQ is commonly assesed using 5 pillars:
- Self-awareness
- Self-regulation
- Motivation
- Empathy
- Social Skills
On review, every situation we find ourselves in during our life will demand of us one or many of the 5 pillars. The level of EQ someone posseses is not a static trait although some people can be higher on the EQ scale simply due to their upbrining or previous life experience. The good news is that it is possible to increase our level of EQ through measures such as the ones we are about to undertake at EDA I.E mindfulness, meditation, journaling, active listening.
IQ vs EQ
IQ is a system which defines our intellectual intelligence and our cognitive skills i.e our ability to problem solve, reason, logic. IQ is differnet from EQ in the sense that EQ is about how we percieve situations, people, challenges and react to them both internally and externally; whilst IQ is about how we apply our intellect towards situations and challenges which require us to use reason and logic to find a solution or outcome.
The Importance of EQ
As i eluded to in the first question, our life situation and experiences draw upon us to use one or many of the 5 pillars of EQ every single day; Our experiences are dictated by our understanding of what we are percieving, how we feel about that, and therefore our reaction. Understanding and implementing practices to improve our EQ will help us with our communication skills, empathy, awareness, stress levels & motivation; and thats just naming a few facets.