Sensitivity Towards Others: Having Emotional Intelligence

Happy Friday!

It’s the end of the week for us, but I wanted to switch it up a bit and delve into something a bit more meaningful as I haven’t written about something thought provoking in quite a while. The reason I decided to touch on the subject is because a few months ago a couple of my friends and I were all sitting together just gisting among ourselves and discussing goals, then my friend said something to me that wasn’t really sensitive and something that certainly hurt my feelings. My other friend noticed and said “you lack emotional intelligence!” She further explained why she made that comment because she was not aware she had hurt my feelings and my mood had completely changed.

Now I studied emotional intelligence in college and what it meant and if you lacked emotional intelligence, how it could affect you in your workplace and in your personal life. Emotional intelligence is the capacity to be aware, control and express ones’ emotions (Dictionary.com). The ability to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. In Layman’s terms, being emotionally intelligent is the ability to be sensitive towards others; being able to read social cues and to understand when a wrong thing is being said at the absolute wrong time, whether it be you friend, or a total stranger.

In this day and age in social media, there are a lot of online bullies and people who think they can say whatever they want because you cannot physically see them. Now don’t get me wrong, no one is perfect and neither am I, but the older I become, the more aware I am of what comes out of my mouth and how it can affect that person, especially if it someone that I know and care for. Being emotionally intelligent is a conscious effort. It takes time, it takes thought, it is a learning process.

Emotional Intelligence comes with 5 principles-

Self awareness - first and foremost, know yourself! It’s a powerful statement I know but know who you are and what your values are and what you believe in. Once you know this, everything else comes pretty easy.

Empathy- Are you sensitive towards others? Can you relate to a sad situation? If you were in a difficult situation, wouldn’t you want someone to feel for you? Empathy is about connecting and being able to show emotion in the toughest time.

Motivation- What fuels you to do better, to be better. Why do you do what you do whether it be in your work place or your hobby? This struck a chord for me as I switched careers and I still continue to think of ways to be better!

Self Regulation- This goes along with self awareness and what you believe in, how do you hold yourself accountable, how do you resolve conflict?

Social Skills- Social Media, Social Media, Social Media! Everyone is on social media and everything can show up on social media. What are your communication skills like and how do you come across to others? Do you know what social ques are and how to pick up on them? When you are scrolling through instagram and you comment on something or see something that is not necessarily your cup of tea, do you say something nice or just blurt out whatever you want?

I hope that was not too much of a read, but I hope you took something from me. That conversation with my friend encouraged me to write this post and I thank her for it. Remember to be sensitive to others needs, life isn’t as peachy as it looks on Instagram. Have a wonderful weekend. Xxx