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Emotional intelligence (EQ) is often ignored in a world where technical skills and cognitive skills are emphasized. Yet EQ — the ability to understand and manage our own feelings, and to perceive and influence the feelings of others — lies at the heart of forming and maintaining strong, satisfying relationships. Similar to how the fun of virtual bingo is further elevated by the interaction, having high emotional intelligence will help you connect with other people, breaking the ice, developing trust-flow and smooth communication with empathy.
Emotional Intelligence: The Secret Superpower You Never Heard Of
IQ (Intelligence Quotient) assess cognitive abilities, whereas EQ assesses emotional aspects. It includes various abilities that allow us to manage the intricacies of human interaction in a more sensitive and impactful way. Necessary skills that are not innate, but developed and strengthened over time, allowing for connection with greater depth and durability in all of our relationships.
The 5 Elements of Emotional Intelligence
The world-renowned psychologist Daniel Goleman (the one who kind of popularized emotional intelligence) presented five main aspects of emotional intelligence:
- Self-Awareness: This the ability to identify and understand your own emotions, and your strengths and weaknesses. It means being aware of the way your feelings affect your thoughts and behavior.
- Self-Regulation: This includes managing your emotions effectively, controlling your impulsive feelings and adapting to changing situations. It’s about responding deliberately, not reacting mindlessly.
- Motivation: This is your intrinsic drive and desire to accomplish things despite the rise and fall. It encompasses traits such as resiliency, optimism and initiative.
- Empathy: The ability to understand and share the feelings of another. This means stepping into other people shoes understanding their point of view and their feelings
- Interpersonal skills: This includes a wide range of social skills, such as communication, conflict resolution, teamwork, and building relationships. It’s about handling relationships and building rapport.
The Way Emotional Intelligence Builds Relationships
Strong emotional intelligence serves as your best resource for forging deeper relationships with people:
- Improved Communication: People with emotional intelligence are better communicators. They are good at being clear and respectful about their own feelings, and they also listen closely to others to hear what they are feeling as well as what they are saying.
- Greater Empathy and Understanding: Empathy is the powerful tool that allows us to see the world through the shoes of others, thereby promoting understanding, love, and trust. That way, it ensures a safe and supportive environment for relationships to grow.
- Constructive Conflict Resolution: People who are emotionally intelligent find it easier to deal with disagreements in a constructive manner. They can self-regulate their emotions in a conflict, see the other person’s point-of-view and find a win-win.
- Stronger Trust and Rapport: emotionally intelligent people, through their self-awareness, self-regulation and empathy, develop trust and do rapport working with others. They make you feel heard, and seen, and valued.
- Higher Teamwork and Collaboration: In the professional world, having high EQ is important for teamwork. People with high EQ can read the dynamics of their team, work through conflicts with people, and create a collaborative, productive environment.
- More Influence and Leadership: Emotionally intelligent leaders are able to inspire and motivate others by understanding their needs and feelings. They create bonds of trust and respect.
- Increased Relationship Satisfaction: Ultimately, emotional intelligence contributes to creating relationships that are more satisfying and fulfilling, both in personal and professional spheres of life since individuals feel more seen, heard and supported.
Nurturing Your Emotional Intelligence
The positive aspect is that none of us have fixed emotional intelligence: it is fully possible to grow and develop it with some conscious efforts and practice:
- Self-Examination: Regularly evaluate your own feelings, triggers, and responses. Journaling can be useful for this.
- Solicit Feedback: Know trusted friends, relatives, or colleagues to provide honest feedback to you about your compassion and impulses.
- Listen Actively: Listen to what people are saying verbally and nonverbally. BE A GOOD ACTIVE LISTENER AND EMPATHIZE WITH THEM
- Build Empathy: Work to intentionally step into other people’s shoes. Wonder how they might be feeling.
- Stress Management: In the last series of social-emotional learning tips, we learned how to help parents learn healthy coping methods for stress, as stress can impact your regulation of emotions negatively.
- Self-Regulate: Emotions get strong, so take a beat and say nothing before you react. Think about what the repercussions of your actions might be.”
- Develop Your Communication: Pay attention to how you communicate your wants and needs and try to be clear and respectful.
- Be Willing to Learn: Read books, take courses or find coaching to become more relaxed and comfortable with the processes of becoming more emotionally intelligent.
Wrapping Up
And emotional intelligence is not a fluffy soft skill — it is a core driver of successful and meaningful relationships. We can connect deeper, communicate better, and cultivate more empathy and trust by knowing and growing our ability to move through the emotional landscape of ourselves and others. Just like the shared experience of virtual bingo has made it so much more fun, developing emotional intelligence can help us have richer interactions that lend their way to deeper connections and better overall relationships that impact our mental well-being and happiness.
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