Emotional Intelligence TIPS for Positive Mental Health

Emotional intelligence (ei or eq) is all about how a person recognizes and manages their emotions and deals with the emotions of others. This concept and practice helps to comprehend the way our behaviors, beliefs and thoughts are shaped by our emotions. As a person’s emotional intelligence improves, the person tends to become better at managing the way they behave or react to things but also this process itself becomes more effortless and natural.

With improved emotional intelligence, you gain mastery over your thoughts and reactions diminish. Other’s emotions are felt and seen more clearly and yet they bother us less. This improves the way you perform at work, school, home, and other places.

There is a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and mental health. Studies over the past 30 years reflect that people with high and balanced emotional intelligence are healthier mentally. This is because emotional intelligence incorporates key attributes that relate to how we perceive and deal with pressure and change.  Higher EQ by definition means greater levels of confidence, optimism, empathy. Besides, the phenomenon assists people to clear their minds, stay positive around challenging situations, and communicate effectively with others.

As a result developing our emotional intelligence, brings positive mental health.

Tips to improve emotional intelligence

Considering the various benefits of emotional intelligence, you may want to know how to improve it. So, here are some of the best tips for boosting your emotional intelligence.

·       Be conscious of your emotion and how you react to others

The fact is that emotional intelligence requires you to make a conscious effort to be aware of your emotions and how you react to others. Don’t rush into taking any action. Take the time to understand when you are dealing with anger, anxiety, and other related feelings. By being more self-aware, it will be easier for you to control yourself.

·       Try to understand how others feel about you

When you act or communicate with others, you should find out how others feel about you. This will assist you to know when you need to adjust your action or communication. Without a doubt, this is the basis of emotional intelligence.

·       Be realistic

Another important way to be emotionally intelligent is to be realistic. When creating a new goal or objective, you shouldn’t overrate your ability. Focus on achievable things. As you attain those things, you will feel more confident about yourself.

·       Question your opinions

Many individuals live in an alternate world where their opinions are always right. Unfortunately, it is often easy to find viewpoints of other people that suit yours. If not careful, such similar viewpoints will make you more egoistic about the correctness of your opinion.

So, before and after getting similar or conflicting views, you should question your opinions. Consider how your opinions will affect others around you.

·       Listen actively

Question your emotions and beliefs, look how open you are to others, and don’t overlook the opinions of others. Emotional intelligence encourages individuals to listen to the viewpoints of others; therefore, always try to listen actively to others.  This means, slow down, calm, watch and listen to the whole person – their body langue, facial expressions and tone and qualities of their voice. Notably, communication is less verbal and more non-verbal. Therefore, you need to remain open when you are around people as this will aid active listening – a whole listening approach.

·       Be positive

Through the roller-coaster of life, it’s vital to have a good practice of positivity and reasons to be positive. Connect with moving forward with goals, the small wins ever day; celebrate them, alone or alone or with others. As you stay positive, you will experience more positive emotions. This will increase your resilience and make you more confident about how much you can achieve in the future.

 

·       Don’t overlook the negative

While it is important to celebrate the positive, you shouldn’t overlook the negative. If you understand why you are feeling negative about a thing, you will feel more sympathetic about people with similar negative experiences. In addition, this will also improve your future reactions to negative situations.

 

·       Communicate clearly with others

As long as emotional intelligence is concerned, you need to communicate effectively with others. Without proper communication, it will be difficult for people to understand your goals, expectations, challenges, etc. As they don’t understand these things, you will not be on the same page. Over time, this can lead to a breakdown in your relationship.

·       Eat well

Studies have established a relationship between what we consume and how we feel. Therefore, if you want to improve your emotional intelligence, make sure you eat balanced diets. Avoid junk, alcohol, drugs, and other things that can disrupt your line of thought.

As you strive to improve your emotional intelligence, your relationship with people will experience different negatives and positives. But you may not note all these things if you don’t allow people to tell you. Therefore, you should listen to feedback. Also, handle all feedback with positivity to encourage others to offer more feedback in the future.