Mental Health Aymen Foundation

Emotional Intelligence

EI Is Essential In Everyday Life

Emotional intelligence (EI) may be characterized as the capacity to recognize, control, and direct individual and group emotions. It has a greater function in serving as a watchdog or a mediator of relationship, a problem solving tool, as well as a means of improving one’s livelihood and career. EI is different from IQ in that while IQ measures a person’s intelligence, EI concerns relationship and personal competencies influencing how a person handles his or her affairs in life.

Self-awareness is part of EI. Knowing our emotions helps us understand what areas may need attention to avoid general agitation and instead make proper decisions. This awareness is the preliminary to self-regulation, still another component of EI, that enables us to regulate stress and to control impulses so that we can perform optimally in a rapidly changing environment. For example, a person who practices self-regulation may well act without anger when dealing with someone, and may look for ways to patiently solve any problems.

Another component of emotional intelligence is empathy- the ability to sense or feel the emotions of a fellow human being. Communications call for empathy because it is the key to creating rapport and making people have confidence in sociable or business associations. There are often talents when leaders with high EI can get involved in motivating or guiding a team or following up issues and concerns with understanding and tact.

On a day to day basis, EI helps in matters concerning interaction, conflict solving in addition to decreasing rivalry between individuals. For example, acknowledging a friend’s anger and offering consolation helps the friendship, while may result in conflict. Even more, emotionally intelligent people know how to manage stress, elicit personal strength, and develop optimism.