Emotional Intelligence (EQ) refers to the ability to perceive, evaluate, and manage the emotions of oneself and others. Because it involves identifying, understanding, and analyzing feelings and interactions on a day-to-day basis, EQ has become an important part of life that influences behavioral changes and decision-making.
With that said, EQ has become a foundation in building a good quality of life and in enhancing one’s well-being. While all of us are at a different level of EQ, there are certainly ways to undergo emotional intelligence training. The key is to be able to face every situation with poise and rationality.
Here are six ways your well-being benefits from increasing your emotional intelligence:
1.  Performance
Be it at school or work, high emotional intelligence can help you navigate the social complexities of society. It allows for better teamwork, especially because people with high EQ can properly communicate and value each other’s opinions. This builds a sense of trust, camaraderie, and unity within the group.
When you have high EQ, you can respond positively to criticism and work in an action-oriented and productive way. You stop putting yourself on a pedestal and start humbling yourself. This motivates you to be better at what you do and be very committed, thereby producing better and praiseworthy work. You also become open to sharing ideas with full honesty and respect when needed, which in turn promotes a culture of continuous improvement. It allows you to identify and learn the different viewpoints of each member with an open mind.
You can work cooperatively towards finding solutions and achieving goals. With such a skillset present, you have an essential trait of a trustworthy leader who understands your people, knows how they work and how to influence and inspire them. Your high EQ gives you the advantage to understand and guide your team members in the right direction.
2.  Health
Adequately having control of your emotions also allows you to lessen your stress levels, which, when left unmanaged, can negatively impact physical, mental, and emotional health. With proper stress management, it makes you less vulnerable to anxiety and other issues. Since you are adept at perceiving emotions, you can also get comfortable with them and manage them in a smart and rational way. Being able to do so helps in forming stronger relationships with others and with yourself.
3.  Relationships
Having high emotional intelligence enables you to recognize and acknowledge other people’s emotions, respond to them, and manage your own. This allows for better communication and makes you a better judge of character, therefore forging and maintaining stronger relationships both in personal and work life.
The quality of your relationships is directly impacted by your emotional intelligence, as there is room for understanding and respect. You begin to see yourself and others with kindness, resulting in more satisfying and manageable relationships.
Even in disagreement, there is respect in looking at others’ points of view, where they are coming from, and understanding why they think that way. You can hold intellectual arguments without it resulting in unhealthy fights.
4.  Flexibility and Adaptability
Change is inevitable, and uncertainty is terrifying, but your EQ can be your anchor to the ever-changing tides. Emotional intelligence gives you the skills you need to deal with any oncoming change with more positivity and gusto.
You can handle the frustration of challenges that are often present, and in high-stress situations, you are able to remain calm and composed to assess the environment and move forward confidently.
Being intrinsically motivated, you are not easily derailed when facing difficulties because you are driven by a sense of purpose and ambition.
5.  Supportiveness
Discerning yourself and others and being able to empathize with them broadens your ability to respond to them, thus, cultivating an environment of respect and trust that creates a culture of support.
You are also able to promote compassion for each other. With this, you have the capacity to connect with others and strengthen not only your own relationships but other people’s connections as well. It opens for a collaborative environment that increases good will among colleagues and an upsurge in each other’s appreciation—a society wherein everyone is valued and important.
6.  Management
High emotional intelligence is your 911 in facing difficult situations and difficult people. Tense and toxic encounters are always bound to happen. However, your reaction to such situations is what makes the difference.
With high EQ comes the ability to handle tough conversations. Since you can assess the different standpoints of the people around you, you can put yourself in their shoes and understand what they are going through. Not only do you have the power to diffuse the situation, but you also have the ability to compromise and find a solution suitable for everyone.
Since you have mastered the art of neutralizing toxic situations, you have also become masterful at reclaiming your own calmness and rationality.
Improving one’s Emotional Intelligence greatly impacts our general well-being. It affects how we behave in the different aspects of our lives. It helps one communicate better, neutralize conflicts, improve relationships, obtain better health, and make better decisions.
It enables us to live with a sense of purpose, independence, and intent. It tells us that we always have a choice in the decisions that we make and have yet to make. It enables you to live your life without the shackles of fate and circumstance, relying instead on conscious efforts and intentions. Developing your EQ helps you delve deep into understanding yourself and being in control of who you are. Emotions will always be a part of what makes us humans, but it does not mean you have to let them get the better of you.
Increasing EQ is about changing our regrets into satisfying ends. It is a whole new world when it comes to one’s outlook, and it helps one effectively overcome the hurdles in one’s life.
Mental Health Month 2021
Access for All
May is Mental Health Month, a time to spread public awareness and education about mental health disorders and reflect on the impact of mental illness on individuals and their families.
It is also a time to recognize and commit to changing the racial and economic inequities in our health care system, particularly with respect to mental health.
www.rtor.org and Laurel House are committed to the advancement of racial equity and social justice, and to making mental health services accessible to all.
Photo by Eye for Ebony on Unsplash
The opinions and views expressed in any guest blog post do not necessarily reflect those of www.rtor.org or its sponsor, Laurel House, Inc. The author and www.rtor.org have no affiliations with any products or services mentioned in the article or linked to therein. Guest Authors may have affiliations to products mentioned or linked to in their author bios only.
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