- Why is Emotional Intelligence important?
“Your Yesterday can be full of Unfilled dreams.
Your Tomorrow can be full of surreal minutes.
So believe in Today, surrender to this
present moment, love unconditionally, believe bravely and do deliberately and mostly live lively “. ~ Shiyama Hafeez Marikkar
Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to understand, guide your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and develop good relationships in your personal and professional life. For centuries , researchers and Scientists have relied on Intelligence Quotient (IQ) tests of human intelligence both what people know and how quickly they can solve problems using reasoning.
But can IQ tests alone determine the thinking abilities and human intelligence? Or will that only be enough to be successful in life? So, in recent decades , the intelligence of Emotional intelligence has been developed. Emotional intelligence refers to your ability to recognize and regulate emotions and to use social awareness in problem solving.
For instance , The outbreak of Covid -19 was a communal shock which disrupted the norm in every corner of the globe. We have experienced a time of uncertainty. A few days after our first lockdown commenced, I started working on a very big project. At the same time though, I was transfixed by national and international news. What was it like to experience something that not only had an impact on how people went about their day-to-day business, but was so big that it changed the course of history.
2. How did people cope up with the Covid- 19 outbreak ?
People respond differently according to their degree of emotional intelligence. A colleague of mine, Aysha said ” It was an emotional jolt that changed almost everything ” She further continued with a positive state .“The globe took a pause and let mother nature heal itself from almost a century old hustles and bustles”.
I can still recall the incident of seeing a flock of peacocks and a herd of deers wandering happily on the empty roads and streets in my home town during the lockdown.
Schools were shut down, kids were caged inside their houses not permitted to step out of their places, teachers and educators were into learning something called online teaching , According to Rebecca, A physical Education Teacher says ” bringing the 3D physical classrooms into 2D online platforms was quite challenging “. Parents were deliberately trying to make sure that their children get a quality education amidst the catastrophe. Businesses and Shops were open only for a few hours. Some businesses were closed down, people lost their jobs. Most people started working remotely from home. Impact of Covid-19 on emotional state was ranging from feeling discomfort of limitations , frustration , overwhelming and panic to disturbing an ever increasing number of death tolls on daily news updates.
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives , nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”~ Charles Darwin
As this famous quote by Charles Darwin says , developing emotional intelligence to adapt to a healthy mindset is the key to survive in this pandemic.
3.How to develop your emotional intelligence?
1. Know your weaknesses and strengths.
Observe your actions and behaviors in different environments. Pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses that can help you to measure your ability to handle undesirable situations and improve your coping abilities.
2.Know how to regulate and guide your emotions.
Knowing how to regulate emotions when exposed to unexpected events and guiding your emotions without being overwhelmed by that event is a crucial part of the process.
3.Constantly try to understand the human condition.
Human beings are social animals. Interaction, collaborative communication brings cooperation among people. Learning constantly to understand the human condition is important as well.
4.Emphasis on living in the moment rather than in the past or future.
Catch yourself when your mind wanders with traumatic past experiences or un necessarily anticipate for an unpredictable future.
Whenever the human mind gets distracted by wandering thoughts , it is really important to focus on the present moment.
5.Confront people as issues arise instead of letting them fester within.
Learn the art of dealing with issues and challenging situations as soon as it occurs .While we may all feel overwhelmed from time to time in our demanding work and personal lives, employing the above strategies can help mitigate the frequency and extent to which we feel this way.
Resources
In the meantime, if you want to explore the topic that we covered this week – “Why Emotional Intelligence?” – check out the resources below. (Please note that some of these may only be available in full to members of the club.
https://www.nwmissouri.edu/academics/pdf/rbr/2014.pdf#page=99
