Emotional Intelligence

Snapshot Report Emotional Identification, Perception, and Expression  83 The core ability of identifying, perceiving and expressing emotions in yourself and others is an area where you seem to be doing quite well. This aspect of emotional intelligence helps you to read others, understand how they feel, and effectively identify your own emotions. These skills form the basis of your ability to relate to the emotions of others as well as well as your ability to understand yourself. Review the results below for further information on areas that may need improvement.

My "Emotional Intelligence" score is an 83. I am extremely OCD and a little neurotic, so I took a different test on the web and went through 129 questions only to find out that I had to pay to see my scores! Did I get upset? No, because I knew that I would not put my credit card on there to find out the result so there was absolutely no reason to waste any energy on it. I feel that there is positive and negative energy that we omit and others pick up on it.  Although I do feel as we age, we become more in tune with others and their feelings. We also tend to not let the "little" things in life bother us as much as it would have when we were younger. I do believe that we can become emotionally "impaired" for a while during extreme change; birth, death, marriage, divorce, job loss, etc.  We may make an erratic decision after giving birth due to fatigue or agree to an idea or proposal during a stressful divorce.

 Steps for emotional intelligence in the classroom talks about how we can use our emotional intelligence to enhance our classrooms. One observation that I found interesting was that we must let go of "our needs" such as the need for total control. We are in education to meet the "needs" of our students. We must leave negative emotions outside of our jobs.  Emotions are contagious.  I have a child with autism and I went to work sick one day.  She immediately kept asking me over and over again if I was OK. It is sometimes hard to "buck up" and move on when we are feeling miserable, but as educators, children do not care if you are sick. We also can improve the emotional intelligence of our students by discussing feelings, help them label their own feelings, and genuinely care and accept their moods.  We need how to teach children how to not have sympathy for others but empathise with others.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change" ~ Charles Darwin.  EQ vs IQ had great points for one's Emotional Intelligence being more important that their actual IQ. One has always heard the saying that "only the strong survive". I believe this to be true. What about the debate of "book smarts" versus "street smarts"? I have know individuals who were extremely intelligent but could not make any decisions.  According to the website, a high IQ will get you through school, but a high EI will get you through life. There are many great examples on the importance of Emotion Intelligence. It states that there are five main components one must possess to have a high EQ.  One must have intrapersonal skills; manage one's feelings, ability to realize one's potential, and be assertive and independent.  One must possess interpersonal skills; empathy and social relationships.  One must have a stress management skill. One must also be adaptable and control their own moods. I feel that both a high IQ AND a high EI would make for the best leaders. A good combination of both, obviously would lead to the all-around individual. While it is not common to raise one's IQ, having a higher EI is definitely attainable.