emotions Archives — NIMBLE FOUNDATION BLOG

Emotional Intelligence: A Pathway to Life Fulfillment

1) What is emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to recognize, understand, manage, and effectively use one’s own emotions, as well as the ability to recognize, understand, and influence the emotions of others. It encompasses a range of skills and attributes that contribute to self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, and relationship management. Here are the key components of emotional intelligence:

Self-Awareness: The ability to recognize and understand one’s own emotions, strengths, weaknesses, values, and motives. Self-aware individuals are more likely to understand how their feelings affect them and their performance.

Self-Regulation: The ability to manage and control one’s own emotions, particularly in stressful situations, and to maintain composure and think clearly. This involves being able to delay gratification and control impulses, maintaining standards of honesty and integrity, and being flexible in adapting to changing circumstances.

Motivation: A passion for work that goes beyond money or status, characterized by a drive to pursue goals with energy and persistence. Motivated individuals often have a strong desire to achieve and are optimistic even in the face of failure.

Empathy: The ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Empathy involves recognizing others’ emotional states and responding appropriately, which is crucial for building and maintaining healthy relationships.

Social Skills: Proficiency in managing relationships and building networks. This includes abilities such as effective communication, conflict management, leadership, influence, collaboration, and teamwork.

2) Which are the situations where emotional intelligence helps the concerned person?

Emotional intelligence (EI) plays a crucial role in various aspects of life, benefiting individuals in numerous situations. Here are some key scenarios where EI can be particularly helpful:

1. Workplace Interactions

Leadership and Management: Leaders with high EI can inspire and motivate their teams, manage stress, and handle conflicts effectively. They are also better at empathizing with employees’ concerns and needs.
Team Collaboration: EI helps in understanding and managing team dynamics, fostering a cooperative and harmonious work environment.
Conflict Resolution: Those with high EI can navigate disputes calmly and constructively, finding mutually beneficial solutions.

2. Personal Relationships

Communication: EI enhances the ability to communicate thoughts and feelings clearly and empathetically, leading to healthier and more fulfilling relationships.
Conflict Management: High EI individuals can manage disagreements and conflicts in personal relationships without escalating tensions.
Empathy and Understanding: Being able to empathize with others’ emotions helps in building deeper connections and understanding within relationships.

3. Stress Management

Coping Mechanisms: People with high EI can recognize and manage their own emotions effectively, reducing the impact of stress and preventing burnout.
Resilience: EI contributes to resilience, allowing individuals to bounce back from setbacks and maintain a positive outlook.

4. Decision Making

Balanced Decision Making: EI enables individuals to balance emotions with logic, leading to more well-rounded and thoughtful decisions.
Awareness of Emotional Impact: Understanding the emotional consequences of decisions on oneself and others can lead to more ethical and empathetic choices.

5. Social Situations

Building Relationships: High EI helps in making and maintaining social connections by understanding social cues and responding appropriately.
Navigating Social Complexities: EI aids in managing social complexities and dynamics, such as dealing with difficult personalities or understanding group hierarchies.

6. Educational Settings

Student-Teacher Interactions: Teachers with high EI can better understand and respond to students’ emotional needs, creating a supportive learning environment.
Peer Relationships: Students with high EI are better at forming and maintaining positive peer relationships, contributing to a more inclusive and supportive school environment.

7. Healthcare

Patient Care: Healthcare providers with high EI can offer more compassionate and effective care by understanding and addressing patients’ emotional and psychological needs.
Teamwork among Healthcare Professionals: EI facilitates better communication and collaboration among healthcare teams, improving overall patient care quality.

8. Negotiations

Understanding Opponents: In negotiation settings, high EI helps in understanding the emotions and motivations of the other parties, leading to more successful outcomes.
Maintaining Composure: Managing one’s emotions during negotiations can prevent escalation and facilitate smoother negotiations.

3) How to develop emotional intelligence?

Developing emotional intelligence (EI) involves enhancing your ability to recognize, understand, and manage your own emotions, as well as recognizing, understanding, and influencing the emotions of others. Here are some practical steps to develop emotional intelligence:

1. Self-Awareness

Mindfulness Practices: Engage in mindfulness or meditation to become more aware of your emotional states.
Reflective Journaling: Write about your feelings and thoughts regularly to understand your emotional patterns.
Feedback Seeking: Ask for feedback from trusted friends or colleagues about how you come across emotionally.

2. Self-Regulation

Stress Management: Practice techniques such as deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, or yoga to manage stress.
Impulse Control: Pause and think before reacting to emotional triggers. Count to ten or take a short walk if necessary.
Adaptability: Work on being flexible and open to change, which helps in managing unexpected emotional responses.

3. Motivation

Set Personal Goals: Create clear, achievable goals that align with your values and passions.
Positive Thinking: Cultivate an optimistic outlook by focusing on the positives and learning from failures.
Self-Improvement: Regularly seek opportunities for personal growth and learning.

4. Empathy

Active Listening: Pay close attention to what others are saying without interrupting, and show that you understand by paraphrasing or summarizing their points.
Perspective-Taking: Try to see situations from others’ perspectives to better understand their emotions and viewpoints.
Emotional Support: Offer help and support to others when they are in need, showing genuine concern for their well-being.

5. Social Skills

Effective Communication: Work on clear and assertive communication, expressing your feelings and needs respectfully.
Conflict Resolution: Develop skills to handle conflicts constructively, focusing on finding mutually beneficial solutions.
Relationship Building: Invest time in building and maintaining strong, positive relationships with others.

6. Continual Learning and Practice

EI Training Programs: Participate in workshops or courses focused on emotional intelligence development.
Reading and Research: Read books and articles on emotional intelligence to deepen your understanding and discover new techniques.
Practice: Regularly apply these skills in your daily interactions and reflect on your experiences to continually improve.

Recommended Resources

Books: “Emotional Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman, “The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book” by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves.
Courses: Online platforms like Coursera or Udemy offer courses on emotional intelligence.
Apps: Apps like Headspace for mindfulness, and journaling apps like Day One to track your emotional progress.

Developing emotional intelligence is a continuous journey that requires commitment and practice. By integrating these strategies into your daily life, you can enhance your emotional awareness, regulation, and interpersonal skills.

4) In what way emotional intelligent person is different from the qualities of those the Pragya Purush as described in the Bhagwat Gita?

Emotional intelligence (EI) and the qualities of a Pragya Purush (a wise person) as described in the Bhagavad Gita share some similarities but also have distinct differences. Here is a comparative analysis of both concepts:

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence, as popularized by Daniel Goleman, involves the following core components:

Self-awareness: Recognizing one’s own emotions and their effects.

Self-regulation: Managing one’s emotions in healthy ways.

Motivation: Being driven to achieve for the sake of achievement.

Empathy: Recognizing, understanding, and considering other people’s feelings.

Social skills: Managing relationships to move people in desired directions.

Pragya Purush in the Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita, particularly in Chapter 2 (Verses 54-72), describes the qualities of a Pragya Purush, a person of steady wisdom or enlightened person. Some of these qualities include:

Sthitaprajna (Steady Wisdom): Remaining calm and undisturbed by both joy and sorrow.

Self-control: Control over desires and senses.

Equanimity: Maintaining mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in difficult situations.

Detachment: Being unattached to material possessions and outcomes.

Inner Peace: Finding contentment and peace within oneself rather than in external circumstances.

Comparison and Differences

Similarities:

Self-awareness and Self-regulation: Both EI and the Pragya Purush emphasize self-awareness and the regulation of one’s emotions. Emotional intelligence involves understanding and managing emotions, while the Bhagavad Gita speaks of self-control and equanimity.

Empathy and Compassion: Emotional intelligence includes empathy, which aligns with the Gita’s broader moral teachings of compassion and understanding towards others.

Inner Peace and Stability: Both concepts value inner peace. In emotional intelligence, managing emotions contributes to inner calm, while in the Gita, the Pragya Purush attains peace through detachment and steady wisdom.

Thanks for reading.

How to Change Your Attitude?

Changing attitude is your choice but this choice is critical, because it controls your life.

1. What is Attitude?

Attitude is your response to a situation, circumstance, person or an object. But the detailed definition of attitude would be; a predisposition or tendency to respond positively or negatively to a situation, circumstance, person, idea or an object. It influences a person’s choice of action and response to challenges, incentives, rewards etc. These are called stimuli. Stimuli are challenges, incentives and rewards. Four major components of attitude are –

Emotions and feelings
Cognitive – belief or opinions held consciously
Inclination for action , spontaneity
Evaluative – positive or negative response to the stimuli

The first 3 components influence or determine the 4^th component.
The importance of Attitude can hardly be exaggerated
It controls our lives. This is why it is extremely important. We must also understand the difference between positive and negative attitude. It is important to know what these both can do for us.

2. Importance of Positive Attitude.
Positive attitude brings strength, energy, motivation and initiative.
Person with a positive attitude will ask “How something can be done?”, rather than saying, “It is very difficult. We don’t know whether it can be done or not.”
It gives you power over your circumstances rather than your circumstances having power over you. That’s the power of positive attitude; it gives YOU the power. You control circumstances, rather than circumstances affecting you or your behavior.
It is also an understanding of the fact that nothing can change until you change. Therefore, everything changes once you change. You have to identify what are your habits, what are the things that are holding you back. And you have to overcome those, and to overcome those, you have to change.

3. You can train your mind for The Attitude you choose.
It is necessary to train your mind to see good in everything. To see something positive, so that it encourages you to go ahead in whatever you are trying to do. Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it. Let’s make it positive.
It will be a good idea, to decide and say it to yourself every morning that you will face everything that comes to you today with a positive attitude. All things about you are important and you should give importance to all those things. Only when you are careful about everything around you, others will give you the respect you deserve.
While positive attitude will help you in every aspect of life, negative mind will never give you a positive life. It will create only negativity. Further, negative thoughts create negative situations.

4. Negative attitude is disastrous.
A bad attitude leads you nowhere. You cannot go very far until you change it. Therefore, if you identify that your attitude needs some enhancement, do it sooner than later. A person with negative attitude sees difficulty in every opportunity. Whereas a positive thinker, sees an opportunity in every difficulty. This is a big difference. How can you change? You have to figure it out for yourself. Because it depends on your habits.
Positive thoughts are good, but they are not enough. They have to be followed with positive feelings and positive actions. Actions are most important. Without actions you cannot have the benefits of positive attitude. Attitude has to be supplemented and supported by respective actions.
The only disability in life is bad attitude. There is no reason why you should live with a disability which is under your control. There are some difficulties we have to live with. But it’s not so with your attitude. Your attitude is something you can change and the best thing is to change it. Whenever you feel pain in your life, think about its full form –
P – Positive
A – Attitude
I – In
N – Negative situation

5. Believe in yourself for positivity.
If you have a tendency to self-doubt it keeps giving more negative energy to feed on. That means you are actually attracting negativity. One American in his grey years said “my life has been full of misfortunes which never took place”.
Another man had said, “I don’t have time to hate people who hate me, because I am too busy loving people who love me”.

Thanks for reading.

How to strengthen your Emotional Intelligence?

8 Incredible Ways to Increase your Self- awareness and Develop Courage!

Self awareness helps you understand your personality, values, and deepest desires. Additionally, learning more about yourself helps you create your best life and make positive changes to improve your weaknesses. Being self aware boosts your emotional intelligence, so it’s a valuable trait that might help you relate to others. Raise yourself awareness and develop Emotional Intelligence by learning about yourself, building and getting feedback from others

1. Rank your top 5-10 priorities so you know what’s important to you.

Make a list of the things you most value in life, such as your family. Then, choose 5-10 items on your list that are most valuable to you. Rank them in order of importance, with 1 being your top priority. This helps you understand what’s truly important to you. The process gives you a confidence that nothing important will be missed out by you. In turn it increases your courage.

2. Identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses helps you understand yourself so you can live your best life. Discover your strengths by assessing your knowledge, skills, and traits. Additionally, think of 3-5 times when you felt most successful in life. Then, make a list of areas where you want to improve to find your weaknesses. Start working on mitigating or eradicating your weaknesses. This is another step which will make you strong.

3. Write about your feelings and experiences in a journal.

Journaling helps you better understand your thoughts and emotions. Set a goal to write in your journal every day, even if you just write a little. Discuss what’s happening in your life and how you feel. Then, review what you’ve written to help you self-reflect. No daily experiences will surely help you to understand that how you should go about improving yourself in dealing with the day today problems. Understandably this develops your courage.

4. Allow yourself to feel your emotions so they pass.

Part of self awareness is being able to understand your emotions. Acknowledge how you’re feeling and give yourself permission to experience the emotion. This allows your feelings to pass. Don’t ever press any emotions. This is particularly so for feeling of sadness and remorse. You must remind yourself that these unwanted feelings are not going to help you in anyway. If you’re not going to hell why let them remain with you. Threw them out.

5. Determine what triggers you emotionally to understand yourself.

Think about the times you’ve gotten really upset in the past. Then, identify what was happening in that moment. This is an emotional trigger that you have. Knowing your triggers helps you better manage your emotional reactions to them. It’s important for you to understand your emotional characteristics. Do you have fear of failures? Or that of criticism. Remember failure is a part of success. No criticism is valid. Don’t worry what other people say but keep on improving yourself day after day.

6. Meditate for at least 10 minutes a day for a clear mind.

Daily meditation helps you calm your mind so you can think better. Additionally, it helps you stay relaxed so you’re better able to control your emotions. For a simple meditation, sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Then, focus on your breath. It has been scientifically proved that meditation has helped many people to overcome even the depressions. What meditation does this to cleans your mind and remove the clutter. The problems are resolved easier. Meditation surely gives you internal strength.

7. Ask people whose opinions you value to give you feedback.

Identify people in your life who you think will give you an honest, constructive evaluation of yourself. Then, ask them to tell you how they perceive you, what they think your strengths are, and how you can improve. Collect their feedback and review it to better understand yourself. Getting feedback from people whom you can trust is very helpful in developing your personality and enhancing your courage. While never depend on unsolicited advice because a free advice is often more expensive. But when you are asking feedback and also requesting them to be frank in their assessment, it’s going to be very helpful as this is other people’s perception about you. This process also makes you emotionally strong.

8. Pay attention to how others react to you.

Watch other people’s body language when they’re around you. Notice if they appear comfortable and approach you with ease or if they keep their distance or close them self off. Look for trends in how people act around you to get an idea about how you’re perceived. This is an effort to continuously improve yourself. You keep on noticing how people react to your conduct, to your speech, to your body language in to your actions; the process is enlightening and gives you immense knowledge to enhance your personality and become more courageous.

Thanks for reading.

Ethos, Pathos & Logos

3 Prime Parameters of Public Speaking.

Public Speaking has been considered very important ever since society started its cultural journey, hundreds of years ago. But Public Speaking is difficult and the public speaker faces many problems, real and assumed ones.

Today, I will talk about three chief parameters of an effective speech. These three form the litmus test of a good speech.

We need just to remember three words- Ethos Pathos and Logos. These Latin words are easy to remember. It was Greek philopber and speaker Cicero who gave the speaking fraternity these 3 dictums which hold ground even after hundreds of years.

What is Ethos? It is your credibility. Ethos tells the audience that you are chosen to speak to them on a particular subject because you are the most deserving candidate at that moment. Unless you are a celebrity and unless the host has adequately introduces you, it falls upon your shoulders to inform and convince the audience that you are a great choice. You can do this by talking about your experience, about your being fully conversant with the subject and by quoting reference of positive feedbacks that you might have received.

Pathos is the need of your audience. What are they looking for from the presentation you have promised to make? You may also like to know the number of people and their profile. Besides, you can understand from your research what will interest those most? The host is equally interested in making the event worth its while. So having a chat about what you are going to speak and what the audience expects from you will be time well spent. Acquire such information sooner than later. It will help you to prepare your speech well in advance. Even a highly rated public speaker need to give orientation to his speech after defining the audience. Until you become such a speaker that whatever you speak is happily accepted.

Logos: Lastly I will explain about meaning of Logos. It implies how well you construct your arguments. Whatever you speak has to be supported by some examples and by some logical arguments. These have to be convincing and interesting. But you have to look at these from the point of view of your audience. You have to step into their shoes to understand it well. More importantly, the audience or the majority people in the audience should be able to connect with your statements.

And of course you have to speak clearly in a well modulated voice.

Thanks for reading.

Poise

The Dictionary meaning of Poise is composure or self-possession or equilibrium.
Thus a poised person is self-assured and carries himself/herself gracefully and with dignity.
For human beings the difficulty arises due to emotions. If anything is not happening as per the expectation, the individual is likely to react in a way which is often irrational. Poise is difficult to maintain. However, the benefits are immense. A poised person is able to deal with all kinds of people calmly and elegantly.

How to maintain poise? Psychologists after research have come to certain conclusions, which I would like to reproduce below:
The biggest enemy of poise is anger. Everyone would agree that anger is not beneficial to the individual under any circumstances. A person gets angry due to uncomfortable situations due to uncomfortable situations or due to his/her own inadequacies to meet the situations. One may also get angry if someone insults or speaks in a manner which is unworthy. But with practice one can meet all challenges. They can remain cool in all circumstances but this will happen with consistent efforts and self awareness.

You should laugh with others even if joke is on you. Any sarcastic remarks can easily be laugh away. Apply mind to come out with the solution. This will happen if you take things in their straight.
Life is mixture of highs and lows. Good things are followed by challenges just like night falls after day the life does not offer a regular cycle like night and day. But both difficulties and happy moments are a part of everybody’s’ life. We need to be appreciated. Keep your spirit up even when things go wrong.

Ego is another enemy of poise. Unfortunately this malady is wide spread. It is found in most well-to-do people. Realizing that ego does not serve any purpose we should throw it out from our life.
Thanks for reading.