Emotional Intelligence

The ability to express and control our emotions is essential, but so is our ability to understand, interpret, and respond to the emotions of others. Imagine a world where you could not understand when a friend was feeling sad or when a co-worker was angry. Psychologists refer to this ability as emotional intelligence, and some experts even suggest that it can be more important than IQ.

Learning to identify, understand, and manage our feelings through the prism of emotional intelligence can make a significant difference in the way we apply the mind to any particular situation.

Emotions are the richest source of energy we possess. Meditation and mindfulness emphasize the healing, nurturing, and uplifting power of positive emotions such as love, joy, enthusiasm, gratitude, compassion, peace, unity, and wonder. These emotions serve as soul boosters and enable us to cope with the messes and the miseries of life.

In our times, many self-help therapists have told us to pay attention to what our emotions are telling us and work with them. Inward practices like, yoga and mediation, ask us to go a step further. They suggest we recognize that even the negative emotions we find toxic and troubling, such as anger, hatred, fear, and shame, can be catalysts to our transformation.

There is a great need for all of us to become more observant and familiar with our own and other people's emotions. We can improve our emotional intelligence and apply it at home, in relationships, at work, in our community, and in the world at large.

By increasing our understanding of emotional intelligence, we are capable of obtaining meaningful rewards and satisfaction far beyond what we would otherwise expect from life! A greater understanding of emotional intelligence on a world-wide scale would surely result in a less behaviorally stressed planet.