How are emotionally intelligent people?
Our conception of intelligence has long been limited to a good development of classic cognitive abilities. Today we also talk about emotional intelligence , one of those human facets that, although often ignored and difficult to objectify, affect us in all areas of life.
What is emotional intelligence?
As we saw in the article on emotional intelligence, this can be defined as our ability to manage our emotions in an adaptive way both when making decisions and when we need to relate to others or regulate our affective states. However, as this type of intelligence is difficult to measure and it is difficult to isolate the results of good emotional intelligence, many times these types of skills are ignored , considering that all people are more or less able to manage their emotions equally or that, on the contrary, these skills are encoded in the genes and can not be modified with experience.
However, emotional intelligence is something that can be improved over time, since it is one of the many faces of learning and human potential, and precisely because of this there are also differences between people who manage their effectiveness well and others who still They have not learned everything they could. It is even possible that some have been learning to improve their emotional intelligence without knowing it!
To situate yourself and know at what point of emotional intelligence you are, here is a short list with the characteristics of emotionally intelligent people . In turn, these points can serve to place you objectives when training in the management of emotions.
10 characteristics of emotionally intelligent people
1. Do not pursue only the short-term rewards
This type of objectives or "reinforcements" are the foundation on which, among other things, addictions and procrastination are based. Emotionally intelligent people they are capable of not allowing themselves to be governed by the immediate proximity of a reward that in the long term is not beneficial.
2. They are able to recognize their own emotions
It is also relatively easy to relate these emotions to their origin or origins, that is, the main factors that have made an emotional state appear , be it positive or negative.
3. They know the importance of inner discourse
They do not limit themselves to interpreting their experiences automatically, as they are presented, but rather They put efforts to build a useful interpretation of these experiences that helps them to direct their objectives towards a useful goal and maintain an emotional state that does not play against them.
4. They show good empathic abilities
They are able to connect affectively with other people Quickly and with little information. This makes them more inclined to establish a constructive dialogue.
5. They know how to externalize their emotions
Both in a dialogue in real time and in a writing (regardless of the literary quality of this!). They know how to express their emotional state in any of the possible languages.
6. Orient your actions and your thoughts
Towards the management of your emotions. They know the importance of thoughts towards an adequate mental health and spiritual, and manage this point in their favor.
7. Tend towards positive attitudes
However, they do not let themselves be dragged by them either, and they implicitly know that there is no bad emotional state per se.
8. The values that govern their lives are positive and negative alike
Positive values to avoid falling into constant and unproductive criticism, and negative values so as not to deny reality and recognize problems when there are . Their actions are based on the dialectic of these two types of values.
9. They are motivated and know how to motivate others
They recognize the importance of tasks with meaning for people. They value the need for intrinsic motivation . And, more importantly, they are able to keep their colleagues motivated. They have the soul of a leader.
10. They consider the human being an emotional being, not an automaton
They know the importance of affective states in all areas that have traditionally been considered purely rational. They know that emotions shape decision making, memory recovery, memorization, etc.
Concluding ...
So far this list about the characteristics of people with good emotional intelligence. Remember that, as in all learning, nobody comes to fit perfectly in this description (among other things, because this can be interpreted in several ways) and that all training takes time and some effort.
