Simple Steps to Emotional Intelligence

Ways to Develop Your Emotional Intelligence

1. Ask Yourself How You Feel
We try not to run away from our emotions, even when they are uncomfortable. If our emotions or feelings cause us discomfort, we do not try to pretend or distract ourselves with other activities.

Tip: Sit quietly a few times a day and ask yourself, "How do I feel?" Emotions may surface after a while, especially if you're not used to listening to them. Take the time you need.

2. Don’t Judge Emotions Too Quickly
It's easy to risk judging emotions too quickly. We try not to reject them until we understand their meaning and why they arose. Emotions often rise like a wave and then fall before they disappear. Let them express themselves inside you and listen to them.

3. Look for Connections
Let’s try to find a connection between our emotions, feelings, and the reasons we feel the way we do right now. When a difficult emotion arises, ask yourself if you’ve felt the same way before. This can help you understand your current emotional state and make sense of the situation you’re in now or have been in the past.

4. Connect Emotions and Thoughts
We try to link emotions to thoughts. Perhaps these emotions arise from one of the thoughts that have been troubling us. Sometimes the emotions we experience may contradict each other, but according to experts, this is perfectly normal. Listen to all your emotions, compare them, and try to integrate them.

5. Listen to Your Body
Did you know that emotions reflect in our organs and body parts? For example, a knot in your stomach might mean you're tired of work. Listening to your body’s signals can help you recognize and better classify your emotions.

6. Ask for Others' Opinions
If we simply can’t figure out how we’re feeling right now, let’s try asking someone else’s opinion. This is advice people rarely follow.

But asking a small question to someone we know well and trust can lead to unexpected and clear answers.

7. Listen to the Unconscious
To become more aware of the emotions linked to our unconscious, we can try using free associations. When you relax, let your thoughts wander freely and see where they go. After waking up, write down your dreams in a notebook and pay attention to recurring dreams or ones that evoke strong emotions.

8. Evaluate Your Well-being
We start each day by asking ourselves how we really feel and rating our state on a scale from 1 to 100. You can try keeping a daily diary of your emotions and understanding which aspects of your life they are connected to.

9. Pay Attention to Emotions and Feelings
Another useful exercise is to regularly note the thoughts, emotions, and feelings you experience each day or at certain times of the week. This exercise takes only a few hours per month but can be very helpful in getting to know yourself better.

10. Move Towards the Outer World
Self-analysis is very important, but we must not forget that there is a world around us that needs to be explored. So, let’s look inside ourselves, but at the same time, not forget about the real world, where we must constantly be present and catch the useful stimuli it offers us.