Self-Awareness- Cultivating Emotional Intelligence

To know thyself seems to mean something unique to each person. The value in the words comes directly from the process of self-reflection.

Folks who have the most need of increased self-awareness are the least likely to know it.

As you move forward in your journey to become more self-aware, you may find your emotions often standing in your way. We are both rational and emotional beings, and a part of our goals in life should be to meet our emotional selves, fearless, and grow in emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence is one’s ability to identify, analyze, process, and modify or influence one’s own emotional state to produce a rational result. The importance of growing your emotional intelligence cannot be overstated.

Mastering and harnessing your own emotional reactions to stimuli is key in good decision making, leadership, conflict resolution, and debate. Having the skill to identify your own emotional state and react rationally is the fastest way to achieving your own goals.

So how do you cultivate emotional intelligence? You might have heard this before, but step one is to silence the negative, useless self-talk. Mute that inner voice that delivers nothing but baseless and arbitrary judgments on your own status and worth. That voice doesn’t truly know you or want what is best for you. That is why you are here, to change your inner dialogue to reflect the truth about yourself so you can move forward.

To know your emotional condition, it is essential that you change the questions that you ask yourself, especially when under duress.  

Exchange the “why?” for “what?”

Try “what is happening?” instead of “why is this happening?”

Instead of “why am I feeling this way?” ask “what am I feeling?”

Maybe the reason you’ve not been getting answers in your own life is because you’ve been asking yourself the wrong questions.

This is a simple, basic place to start.

It is imperative that you withhold self-condemnation at this stage of investigation. To become the master of your own emotional intelligence, resist self-judgment and just observe your own condition.

“Know thyself, and be temperate." -Plato

It should be noted here, that what you find within yourself, you may not like. Stay honest. Self-discovery can be a heartbreaking and nasty process. The truth is, underneath our foolish belief that we are all basically good, lies the reality of what we are all capable of.

Everyone with influence over another life is capable of doing great harm.

To truly “know thyself” has been said to be the art of precise communication. Start with your own self, then you’ll be free to ethically, efficiently, and effectively communicate and interact with others.

Girl Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash

Man Photo by Nik Shuliahin on Unsplash

Heart Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash