One way to improve your emotional intelligence is to improve your understanding of your own emotions. Many of us have very few words for emotions and therefore it can be difficult to explain our emotions to others. Sometimes this leads to frustration and anger is expressed, rather than the original emotion.
You can become more aware of your emotions, and it doesn’t need to be an emotional day. Even on an ordinary day, the range of emotions you experience can be quite intense. On any ordinary day, carry the list of emotions with you and as you become aware of a new situation, an incident, or a thought, look at the list and see if you can capture what the emotion really is.
It can be helpful to jot down your emotions in a notebook or journal the gives you something you can look at again later in the day, or in the evening. You then have an opportunity to reflect on what has happened through the day. Write down some more thoughts about your emotions, how you handled the situation or event.
The next step is to write how you might have handled the situation differently if you had stopped for six seconds to allow the emotion to subside.
Below is a list of some emotions supplied by http://www.wikipedia.org so you can get started on this amazing journey. Down below is a comment box – please let me know how this goes for you.
List of emotions in alphabetical order (this list is not exhaustive – I am sure there are others!)
Acceptance, Agitation, Alarm, Amusement, Anger, Angst, Annoyance, Anticipation, Apprehension, Apathy, Arrogance, Awe, Anxiety
Calmness, Cautiousness, Comfort, Contentment, Crunk, Confidence, Courage
Depression, Determination, Disappointment, Discontentment, Disgust, Desire, Delight
Elation or Euphoria, Embarrassment, Ennui, Envy, Ecstasy
Glee, Gladness, Gratitude, Grief, Guilt
Impatience, Inadequacy, Irritability, Inspiration
Loneliness, Love, Lust, Limerence
Nervousness, Negativity, Nostalgia
Pain, Paranoia, Patience, Peace, Phobia, Pity, Pride
Rage, Regret, Remorse, Resentment
Sadness, Schadenfreude, Self-pity, Shame, Shyness, Sorrow, Shock, Suffering, Surprise, Suspense
Jenni Wright
And now I invite you to find out more about emotional intelligence by letting me know your top three questions about the subject. Submit your questions at –
Emotional Intelligence Weblog 