Emotional Intelligence

by Daniel Goleman

From my last article you know that I was going to read this book.  I actually listened to it for free on youtube and you can too.  I has loads of good information in it that can be applied, in my opinion, to everyone.

Emotional Intelligence is something that isn't taught in most schools, but should be.  Emotional Intelligence is the knowing of what emotion your feeling, how to cope with that feeling, and explain to someone else how your feeling.  It is also how you see motions in other people so you can have empathy for that person's feelings and help them cope with those feelings.  I've never been to a psychologist, but in movies I've seen they always ask, "How does that make you feel?"  To me that one question is that start of teaching someone emotional intelligence.

There is a lot of information in the book so my suggestion is you listen to or read the book yourself.  It may help you find and area in emotional intelligence that you need to work on.

For me personally I have a hard time putting my emotions into words to tell someone else.  I also am not very empathetic to others emotions even though I can read their facial expressions well.  The main thing that has held me back is anxiety and fear.  I've worked on it through the years so it's not so bad now, but it used to be quite bad.  I would almost have a panic attack in some situations.  One book that helped me a lot is The Fear Project by Jaimal Yogis.  The other thing that has helped lately is not suppressing my emotions and keeping emotional elements in my activities.  It makes my life easier and less stressful. You can see this in action by watching the Olympics.  If an athlete looks like they are focused on enjoying the sport they are competing in rather than dwelling on whether they will be better than the other people, they tend to do well effortlessly.  That is why sometimes the underdog who thinks they have no chance of beating their competition goes out and has the performance of their life, and they people who are expected to win have many troubles.

I again suggest that everyone listen to or read this book.  If you find something you need to work on search for books, videos, and even podcasts on that subject.  Also I suggest you teach your kids emotional intelligence, because more than likely the school won't and it can greatly improve their lives.

Here is the audio for the book.