Emotional Intelligence

Published: 07/25/2007 - Updated: 07/29/2021

Each person has their own way of thinking to interpret the world around them and try to handle it the best possible way. Generally, all of us are seeking to feel good with ourselves and others and achieve the goals and objectives that we propose in our lives. We use two systems of thought: the rational and experiential.

The rational system operates following established rules; it is slow, conscious, analytical, logical. It is used, for example, to make a mathematical calculation.

Experiential system is based on experience, it's automatic, fast, easy and is related to emotions and personality. Experiential intelligence is based on those thoughts in our minds that automatically appear to any event in our life, and in more general ways of seeing the world, ourselves and others, learned from childhood and throughout our lives and experiences that are part of our way of being. For example: "I think we cannot trust anyone" or "I think in the background, everyone is good."

These thoughts can be constructive or destructive.

Constructive, if these help us achieve our goals and avoid the emotional turmoil, and are destructive in the opposite case. For example, if someone thinks that does not control life, that is a puppet of fate and that nothing good will come, are likely to thwart the own goals and happiness and just having some kind of emotional disturbance, as depression. Those who think that nothing bad can happen and that the problems are fixed at the end without doing anything else, will likely end up having difficulty seeing things just as unrealistic.

Constructive thinking and emotional intelligence

Constructive thinking is related to intelligence

The characteristics of emotional intelligence are:

  • Ability to identify emotions (what we are feeling and what others feel) and express them.
  • Using emotion to reason and make moral decisions, (example: taking into account the feelings of others before doing something, being able to give up something we want for the sake of our family)
  • Ability to understand the emotions: Why do I feel this way? Why that person feels that way? What would I or others do in this situation?
  • Managing emotions: being open to both positive and negative emotions, learn from them, moderating negative emotions and increasing positive without stifling or exaggeration.

Social intelligence and practical intelligence

Social intelligence, (which allows us to interact with others in an effective, problem solving and interpersonal adequately satisfying relationships) and practical intelligence, allows us to effectively solve the various problems that arise in daily life.

Conversely, when you find it difficult to get a state that allows us to integrate into the environment, we must look in front and fix it.

When inside ourselves, there are is more living than outside, we can say that our emotional intelligence is in balance.

About the author
  • K. Laura Garcés G

    Writer, therapist and lecturer. She is a lover of natural medicine and the power of mind and emotions in body and life. In addition, he has studied nutrition and develops appropriate diets to support this healing process.She has written more than 1500 articles in magazines in Spain and Mexico, winner of two literature contests. Linkedin.

2 Replies to “Emotional Intelligence”
  • Sarah says:

    This article seems pretty interesting especially if you are in some kind of trouble and you need help urgently to fix something bad in your inner human, like depression or bad thinkings about other or yourself, I will keep this near and saved for those moments

  • Stacy says:

    Excellent, excellent article. I am excited to read the second half of this article! My fiance and I are discussing something very similar to this – emotional intelligence. I think women are typically more in-tune with emotions and understand life complexities of men, and I hope that through our discussions, my fiance will be able to understand the emotions that I see in him, that he still cannot understand.