What is Emotional Intelligence?

Nathan (not his real name) is an intelligent man, who is respected for his views on church history and religion. And while his intellectual intelligence wins him respect, his emotional intelligence loses him this respect. His anger often boils and spills out in words and actions he later regrets.

We all have feelings and emotions, and life has colour because of it, but very few people today are in control of their feelings and emotions. Anger leads many to say and do things they later regret. Persistent feelings of distress make it hard for many to operate, to learn, and to motivate themselves to accomplish their goals.

When we want to better manage our feelings and emotions, what we really want is to have higher emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is our ability to manage our emotions; But in order to manage our feelings and emotions, we have to be aware of our feelings and emotions. And this means part of emotional intelligence is to be more aware of our feelings and emotions. It is from this self-awareness, that we can better manage our feelings and emotions.

Emotional intelligence is important because thoughts give rise to our feelings, feelings lead to our behaviours, behaviours form habits, habits shape character. The character and mind learners bring to learning determines their success.