Now we know there are emotionally intelligent people. There are many types of intelligence: linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, body, etc. , but we tend to believe that all that matters is the one that has to do with the “intellectual quotient”, which only measures the ability to learn in specific areas, fortunately, this is being reconsidered and, today, other types of intelligence, such as emotional intelligence, are gaining ground.
Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to manage and process our emotions for adaptive purposes, that is, the fundamental thing in this type of intelligence is how to manage, identify or transmit emotions so that challenges, such as making decisions or manipulating themselves on a social level, are simpler.
- Emotional intelligence is not determined by our genetics.
- On the contrary.
- It is sensitive to experience and is likely to change over time.
- Meaning we can learn to be more emotionally intelligent as a great way to improve our lives.
- Emotional intelligences are numerous.
- Here we will focus on three that we consider most relevant.
Self-knowledge is the identification of desires, dislikes and what makes up our subjective world, this is one of the traits of emotionally intelligent and mentally healthy people, in fact, this inner knowledge gives them a great advantage when it comes, for example, to predict their own behavior in certain situations.
This characteristic involves a profound process of reflection on our potentialities and limitations, which usually involves different ingredients such as introspection, self-preservation, autobiographical memory, self-perception, self-acceptance and exploration, the ability that gives us the knowledge to differentiate ourselves. other people and the environment.
A person acts with emotional intelligence when he is able to recognize his strengths and weaknesses, a condition that allows him to behave assertively in different situations, in addition it can be said that it is an attribute that can improve over time.
Recent studies show that it is not correct to say that all mental skills evolve in the same way over the years, the truth is that there is a decrease in the speed of information processing, but, in compensation, other functions are enriched and evolved over the years. This is the case with emotional intelligence: it slows down over time, but at the same time becomes deeper and sharper.
Emotional intelligence stimulates the ability to face with an open mind anything that means an improvement of our life in the direction we want, everything is constantly changing. Life is like a catalogue of opportunities.
That’s why it’s important to identify our needs, take responsibility for them, and learn from experience. An emotionally intelligent person knows that changing to change doesn’t make much sense. Instead, when there are compelling reasons to change, it changes, because it changes. makes the difference between staying the same and being better.
Emotionally intelligent people aren’t afraid of change. They are aware of the importance of being flexible in the face of the diversity of situations that arise daily and to which they must adapt, assimilate changes and see them as an opportunity to achieve goals and be happier.
A high level of emotional intelligence in this regard allows us to perform better in the professional, personal and social sphere, which makes us stronger in the face of negative criticisms and also more able to effectively tolerate high doses of stress. master that, we evolved a lot.
The advantage of this skill is that those who develop it have the ability to define their emotions with clarity and precision, which prevents us from entering states of confusion and stagnation that would nullify our judgment and hinder the way we develop. Many conflicts arise because of the lack of precision in defining our feelings, which leads to misunderstandings.
Many people define their emotional state as “I feel bad,” which is very ambiguous. What’s the discomfort? Anyone who applies emotional intelligence specifies the reason for his discomfort, including countless synonyms: I feel bored, anxious, frustrated, irritated, tired, etc.
Emotionally intelligent people do not hide their emotions, do not recognize them and have the ability to understand those of others, differentiate the meaning of each emotion and the context in which it occurs, they are able to control the magnitude of their emotions and express them. correctly: they are not slaves to their emotions, on the contrary, they use the energy they contain to their advantage.
Images courtesy of Vladimir Kush