Emotional Intelligence: Positively Invest Your Emotional Energy

The 2009 "Stress in America Survey" by the American Psychological Association (APA) highlighted the rising levels of stress Americans continue to experience. Dr. Katherine Nordal, Phd., executive director of the APA, expressed concern over the trend of increasing and extreme stress levels and indicated the need for methods for people to more effectively manage their stress. When we develop our Emotional Intelligence skills we are able transform negative emotions and go beyond just managing our stress -- we begin to master rather than react to our environment.

The daily challenges we face both at home and at work bring about a certain level of stress. However, this stress can be compounded when those challenges grow and accelerate. Add to this global issues such as the recent government bailout, concerns about the economy, the unknowns about healthcare reform, catastrophe's such as the earthquake in Haiti along with the sense of inadequacy when we see help slow in arriving and our stress levels compound exponentially.

We tend to react emotionally as we are continuously assaulted with daily stressors whether large or small. We feel helpless as we find ourselves, in a perpetual state of negative emotional energy. Further, we are typically unaware that we are living in this negative emotional state. And because we are oblivious to our negative emotional state, we are unlikely to change. So what can we do?

Start by Recognizing Emotions:

We can begin to change this situation by recognizing our emotions. Throughout the day we need to identify exactly what we are feeling, labeling each feeling with a specific name: sad, happy, hurt, anxious, afraid, etc. Writing down each of these feelings or set of feelings, we can generate a simple emotional map. We can use a four-quadrant grid where the lower quadrants are "low-energy" emotions and the upper quadrants are "high-energy" emotions. Then we can label the left side as "negative" emotions and the right side as "positive" emotions. Once our grid is labeled, we can place the emotions we identified throughout the day or week in the appropriate grid: excited in the upper right quadrant, fearful the lower left quadrant and so on. Once complete, we begin to get a picture of where we are investing our emotional energy.

If, at the end of the day or week, we find ourselves mostly in the "stress zone" (the left two quadrants), we gain an awareness of the need to move toward the "peak performance zone" – the zone where most successful people operate. With this awareness, we can start making choices to transform negative emotions into positive, productive emotions and begin our journey to master our environment.

By: Byron Stock

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Tailoring the art and science of Emotional Intelligence (EI) to your needs, Byron Stock focuses on results, helping individuals and organizations enhance EI skills, leadership competencies and core values. Byron offers Emotional Intelligence training, speaking, consulting, and coaching services. Visit www.ByronStock.com to learn about his practical, user-friendly techniques.