Emotional Intelligence

EI (emotional intelligence) is the ability to recognize, manage, and understand emotions. Both your own, and those of others. Some researchers suggest that there are four levels of emotional intelligence, based on difficulty:

• Step one: Perceiving emotions
  

  The ability to perceive emotions accurately.



• Step two: Reasoning with emotions
  

  Using emotions to promote thinking and help prioritise what we pay attention to.



• Step three: Understanding emotions
  

  ability to interpret the cause and meaning of the emotion being expressed.



• Step Four: Managing emotions
  

  The ability to regulate emotions, respond appropriately, and respond to the emotions of others.

The following skills are associated with EI and can be practiced and improved on:

• Self-awareness
  

  the ability to recognize and understand your own emotions and being aware of the effect of your actions, moods, and emotions on other people.



• Self-regulation
  

  expressing your emotions appropriately.



• Social skills
  

  build meaningful relationships with other people and develop a stronger understanding of themselves and others.



• Empathy
  

  ability to understand how others are feeling and your responses to people based on this information.



• Intrinsic motivation
  

  motivated by things beyond external rewards like fame, money, recognition, and acclaim.

IQ tests measure your ability to solve problems, use logic, and grasp or communicate complex ideas. EQ tests measure your ability to recognize emotion in yourself and others, and to use that awareness to guide your decisions. IQ is relatively fixed and can not be changed, whereas EQ is a learned and improved ability.

The value of EI is immense; developing emotional intelligence encourages many positive traits, from resilience to communication, motivation to stress management, all of which can be seen as conducive to effectively achieving personal, physical and occupational health, and success.