Emotional intelligence is a person’s ability to understand their emotions and handle them well. A high level of emotional intelligence facilitates communication with other people, allows people to live more happily, and helps one keep a balance between all aspects of life. This ability consists of four components: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, and relationship management (Ocelot, 2016). In this paper, I will discuss my strong and weak areas and consider how the last one can be improved.
I believe that my strongest area is social awareness, which is defined as “the ability to accurately perceive the emotions of others and understand how those emotions influence their behavior” (Traini & Stewart, 2019). My friends, relatives, and acquaintances have always told me that I empathize with others and think about their troubles and emotions. These skills help me build good relationships with other people, cope with complicated situations, and get support when I urgently need it. As it is well known, people like it when somebody listens to them and takes an interest in their problems. Hence, individuals tend to trust me more than others because they see that I am concerned with what they feel.
However, I am not good at self-management, and sometimes I cannot control my emotions. One of the possible solutions to this problem is taking control of my self-talk (Wu, n.d.). This practice can help me to focus on what is important to me and take emotions under control. How a person formulates their thoughts when talking to themselves influences self-management. Hence, it would be better to turn negative expressions into positive ones. For instance, instead of saying, “I never,” I could say “sometimes,” or “I am stupid” could be replaced with “sometimes I make mistakes.” It is also crucial to accept your limitations and do not judge yourself too harshly.
References
Ocelot, (2016). 4 components of emotional intelligence. Web.
Traini, H., & Stewart, J. (2019). Emotional intelligence as a tool for developing yourself and your students. The Agricultural, 92(13), 13-15.
Wu, K. (n.d.). Boost your emotional intelligence. Berkeley College.