What is Emotional Intelligence?

Dr. Ankit Sharma, PhD

Updated on:

Emotional-Intelligence

Today, we will be discussing about various aspects of Emotional Intelligence. Now the primary question is, what is Emotional Intelligence or E.I. as we know it? Emotional intelligence refers to the capacity to recognize, control, and estimate emotions.

Some researchers imply that emotional intelligence can be learned, while others claim it’s an inborn feature.

Signs of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence

Some signs of Emotional Intelligence are as follows:

  • Capability to recognize and depict what people are feeling.
  • Reorganization of own Strengths & Weaknesses.
  • Confidence & self-acceptance.
  • Capability to rectify & let go of faults.
  • Capability to recognize & face challenges.
  • A strong sense of interest, particularly about other people.
  • Feelings of compassion and apprehension for others.
  • Showing an understanding of the feelings of other people.
  • Accepting liability for mistakes.
  • The capability to handle emotions in hard circumstances.

Emotional Intelligence Skills

There are mainly 5 aspects of Emotional Intelligence skills: Let us have a look at them.

1. Self-Awareness

Self-awareness or reorganization of emotions is the most important among Emotional Intelligence Skills. Not only own emotions, power of recognition of effects of own actions, mood & emotions on other people too.

To become self-aware, we must be competent in observing our own emotions, recognizing different emotional reactions, and then correctly classifying each particular emotion.

Self-aware persons also distinguish the relationships between the things they feel and how they behave. They also know about their strengths & weaknesses, and they also welcome new information & experiences. They don’t feel little to learn from others.

2. Self-management

Being aware of own emotions is not enough, one has to be able to monitor & adjust own emotions & how they affect people around him/her. This doesn’t mean one has to hide or suppress his/her emotions. It means waiting for the right time & place to express those emotions in a suitable manner.

Those who have mastered Self-management are quite flexible & adapt to changes well. They are also good at resolving disagreements & to handle tense situations.

People with strong self-management skills also be likely to be high in delicacy. They are thoughtful about how they persuade others, and they take responsibility for their own actions.

3. Social Skills

People with good Emotional Intelligence are known for their social skills. They communicate well with others. It enables them to build a stronger relationship & stronger understanding between themselves.

True emotional understanding means a lot more than understanding the own emotions or the emotions of others. One needs to be able to put this information to work in a daily communique.

4. Empathy

Empathy, or being able to detect one’s feelings is absolutely necessary in Emotional Intelligence Skills. But it means more than just recognizing one’s emotional state. It also means proper response to the acquired information. How do you respond when someone is feeling broken, sad, or hopeless?

Just showering sympathy will be a futile effort to lift their spirit. Being Empathic means not only distinguishing if one is feeling down, but doing something about it so the person can come out of the current miserable state, or at least take a step to come out of it.

Empathic people remind the person who is feeling down that though he/she has faced hardships, all is not over yet. He/she has to move forward to make things right. An empathic person fills another person with positivity.

5. Motivation

The fundamental motivation is another important Emotional Intelligence Skill. Emotionally Intelligent people get motivation beyond earthly things, like money, fame, position, or prize.

They have a passion for fulfilling their own internal needs and objectives. They look for internal prizes, experience flow from being in sync with some action & go for the ultimate experience. Those who are capable in this field are very active & good initiative-takers. They constantly try to improve.

Why Emotional Intelligence Is Important

Having strong Emotional Intelligence can be very beneficial for a person in his/her personal/professional life.  People with strong Emotional Intelligence can always maintain their calm & can handle any uncomfortable social circumstances with ease. Some of the importance of having a strong Emotional Intelligence are as follows:

1. Leadership

People with strong Emotional Intelligence skills tend to be good leaders. Their capability to handle a task & positive traits force people to rely on them. They look him/her up as someone who can guide them to the achievement they are working so hard for. An Emotionally Intelligent Person can prove to be the nucleus of a group.

2. Communication

An Emotionally Intelligent Person can communicate more freely & effectively with others. As we all know effective communication is very important in our personal/professional life.

If we can communicate well with our group in the workplace or with our family, and friends, it will result in stronger bonding & understanding. We don’t need to remind ourselves how it can be beneficial for personal/professional growth.

3. Self-Awareness

Being optimally self-aware is an advantage an Emotionally Intelligent Person enjoys. By being so he/she becomes fully aware of his/her potential & shortcomings.

Accordingly, he/she can act so that the shortcomings don’t hamper his/her progress. They also work heavily to rectify the faults within to perform better, to become a better & more efficient person.

4. Self-Control

To be an effective self-controller, one has to have very stable Emotional intelligence skills. If one can control himself/herself from getting carried away by the emotion & to express in the proper place & time, needless to say, his/her success in personal/professional field is ensured. This self-control also enables us to have some excellent social skills.

5. Stress management

Due to the hectic lives, we lead & busy schedules we have, almost all of us suffer from some amount of stress, but an Emotionally Intelligent Person handles & manages stress in an effective manner. He/she has the ability to stay positive & ability to handle some conflict when many have fumbled.

This Emotional Intelligence enables one to handle the hardships & stress raised by the difficulties & to stay positive-minded no matter what.

Conclusion

If we adhere to the words of famous author Eric Jensen, he said, “There is no separation of mind and emotions; emotions, thinking, and learning are all linked.” We know we cannot separate emotions from the mind. That will make us some emotionless robots. But also, these emotions sometimes act in a way that is not acceptable to us.

If we try, we can control our emotions & use them for a beneficial cause. It cannot be done overnight, it requires practice, knowledge & dedication. We hope you like our post about What Is Emotional Intelligence.

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