Emotional maturity is not a normative entity at a certain age, our world, whether we like it or not, is full of adults who succeed professionally, further revealing the emotional maturity of a three-year-old, so we face such a sophisticated dimension for being intimate, it is an awakening of self-esteem, empathy and social life based on respect.
Are there those who see adolescence and childhood as a kind of happy foolishness, when madness is justified, when there is no shortage of people who say, with a long sigh, this phrase?No problem, they’re going to grow up, are they still young?We forget, however, that the simple fact of reaching adulthood does not give us the power of absolute truths, of that maturity that knows everything and that everything is well, in which we are free of mistakes, in which there are no frustrations and being becomes a guru of social relations.
“Maturity is achieved when a person postpones immediate pleasures for long-term values. -Joshua L. Liebman-
This approach error has its possible origin in the word “maturity”. We all assume that the brain goes through very particular phases, in which, as we celebrate anniversaries, each structure develops and consolidates each region with its millions of synapses until it culminates in this perfect engineering that is the prefrontal cortex. , this region for decision making, planning and that also orchestrates our social behavior.
Well, it’s important to note that, as experts in cognitive neuroscience explain, the brain continues to grow continuously. In addition, in a work in the Journal of Neuroscience, it has been shown that many of our white matter association fibers, associated with Cognitive Tasks, will continue to grow if we maintain an active life, if we stimulate curiosity, interest, sociability?
With all this, we want to say something very simple: emotional maturity does not appear at 30 or 40 years old. The plasticity and potential of our brain is such that we need learning, continuous interaction and early teaching, it is in a happy and crazy childhood that the 6-year-old will thank you for learning to manage your emotions, so let’s not have 50 – children with the emotional tyranny of a 4-year-old.
We all seem to have a real, triumphant and very valuable maturity for this society that needs prepared and highly qualified people with infinite skills and abilities, however, as Tony Campolo, a sociologist at the University of Baltimore, explains, we give it to the adult world. with an “atrofied” emotional maturity.
Be careful. This is not to say that they are “bad” people, but that what we really have are men and women who are unable to be happy, to give happiness and to create facilitating, harmonious and even productive means.
The reason is explained, according to the experts, by a series of very specific questions, one of them that we can certainly observe in our youth, which has more information than previous generations, have many young people grown up in the face of a multitude of stimuli, data, reinforcements?At home and at school, they have been trained in multiple skills with the aim of reaching the “extremely prepared” labour market and society. And they definitely are.
But is the problem limited to? To fill your mind, but we don’t train your brains in the most important skill of all, the emotional one, because you have to understand once and for all: it’s no use being a software developer if it’s not your team spirit, if I don’t know how to deal with frustration Is it no use wanting to be a director if I don’t have good emotional intelligence , if I don’t know how to create a good working climate, practice empathy, develop my human capital?
Emotional maturity does not come over the years, but is promoted from an early age, emotional maturity is also not accompanied by harm, that is, it is not necessary to go through a thousand adversities to know what life is and know how to develop. our personal strengths Really, isn’t there a starting point, a normative moment or a trigger that alone gives us the ability to be empathetic, thoughtful, assertive, capable of resolving conflicts?
“Maturity is that age at which the individual no longer lets himself be deceived. -Ralph Waldo Emerson-
Emotional maturity is a daily investment, it is a continuous awakening in front of oneself and in front of others, to achieve this it is necessary to implement a series of habits, a series of strategies that will only work if we encourage them by the will and armor of humility.
Here are some key points to promote in our daily lives
In conclusion, with everything we have explained, it must be clear that the eldest is no longer a mature, but the one who has learned the most from his years, whether 20, 30 or 70 years. a firm responsibility to take care of ourselves, to postpone immediate pleasures in exchange for long-term values, and to take full care of our complex emotional microcosmos.
Images courtesy of Josephine Wall.