Karen Restivo
In Other Words....
We’re living in a highly charged, politically motivated environment that’s been brewing for the last decade with a socio-economic impact that we’re watching unfold right before our eyes in 2025; not to mention, on the tail end of a pandemic.
Stress and anxiety are at an all-time high, pushing the boundaries of mental health to crisis levels.
How do we slow down this runaway train before it careens off its rails?
Enter Emotional Intelligence 101.
Author Daniel Goleman wrote his groundbreaking book “Emotional Intelligence” in 2005 outlining the dissection of the mind modeling two parts - thoughts and emotions coexisting together.
Goleman’s model of Emotional Intelligence (EI) is based on five components:
Self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills.
He breaks them down below:
Self-awareness - Recognizing and understanding your emotions;
Understanding how your emotions affect your performance;
Being aware of your strengths and limitations.
Self-regulation is expressing emotions appropriately, being flexible and coping with change, managing conflict, and taking responsibility for how your actions affect others.
Empathy - Sensing other people’s feelings and how they see things;
Taking an active interest in their concerns;
Picking up cues to what’s being felt and thought, feeling with others and being moved to help.
Social Skills - Interacting well with others;
Applying an understanding of the emotions of yourself and others;
Being able to tune into another person’s feelings;
Being a great collaborator and team player.
Motivation refers to the ability to drive oneself towards achieving goals, fueled by intrinsic desires and a personal commitment to improvement.
In other words, Emotional Intelligence is the tool we reach for to identify, manage and understand what we are observing around us.
It’s the key to communicate without resorting to confrontation.
It’s the solution for gaining back control over the runaway train and steering ourselves away from self-destructive tendencies.
Karenrestivo57@gmail.com