What is Emotional Intelligence, and What Does it Do For You?

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• What is Emotional Intelligence, and What Does it Do For You?
• Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared on Facebook
• From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

What is Emotional Intelligence, and What Does it Do For You?

Imagine being able to make your emotions work for you rather than experiencing emotions as erratic feelings that control you (Learn How To Control Your Emotions). The ability to do that is known as emotional intelligence.

The essence of emotional intelligence is being able to fully notice, identify, assess, and regulate your emotions. Emotional intelligence also applies to others; being able to notice and identify others' emotions is an important part of human connection and increases empathy.

Emotional intelligence allows us to manage our emotions. Often, we find ourselves controlled by our feelings, and we become stuck in a pattern of reacting to the world around us. When we simply act on emotions, we're being controlled by our emotions. Developing emotional intelligence allows us to manage our emotions and act intentionally rather than letting our feelings and actions spiral out of control.

It's possible to hone emotional intelligence.

• Start by noticing your emotions without judgement; just let them "be" without trying to label or stop them.
• Notice how your emotions and your thoughts are connected. How are you feeling, and what are you thinking about the feelings, a situation, etc.?
• Noticing emotions and thoughts allows you to distance yourself from the intensity of emotions so that you can assess a situation and take control of your actions rather than letting your emotions control you.

Related Articles Dealing with Emotional Intelligence

• Emotional Intelligence—How to Increase Your Bliss EQ
• What is Emotional Health? And How to Improve It?
• You Can Boost Your Emotional Intelligence to Beat the Winter Blues
• The Importance of Emotional Regulation in PTSD Recovery

Your Thoughts

Today's Question: When you’re experiencing strong emotions, what helps you step back and take control of your emotions? We invite you to participate by commenting and sharing your feelings, experiences and knowledge on the HealthyPlace Facebook page.

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Most Popular HealthyPlace Articles Shared by Facebook Fans

Here are the top 3 mental health articles HealthyPlace Facebook fans are recommending you read:

1. The Stigma of Suicide
2. Helping Your ADHD Child with Homework
3. What Causes Mental Illness? Genetics, Environment, Risk Factors

If you're not already, I hope you'll like us on Facebook too. There are a lot of wonderful, supportive people there.

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From the HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

On all our blogs, your comments and observations are welcomed.

• Did Orlando Shooter Mateen Have Bipolar Disorder?
• Making Food Your Friend in Eating Disorder Recovery
• Addiction Recovery and Staying Sober During Tragedy
• Becoming Your Own Mentor
• Self-Injury: What Few People Know About Self-Harm
• How to Use Positive Affirmations to Improve Your Self-Esteem
• 15 Common Signs of Unresolved Trauma
• Addiction Is a Behavior It’s Not about a Substance
• Mental Illness and Gun Violence: Stigma Teaches Fear
• Three Ways to Get Better Sleep
• Anxiety Has a Purpose; Know It and Beat Anxiety
• Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder: An Ongoing Journey
• Moms with Mental Illness: Prioritize Naptime This Summer
• Tips for Handling Grief in a Healthy Way
• Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder, and Binge Spending
• When Good Things Happen and you Still Want To Binge
• How To Cope With Your New Borderline Diagnosis

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

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That's it for now. If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. We'd appreciate it if you will share the newsletter on any social network. For updates throughout the week:

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