How are people emotionally intelligent?

It has been a long time since our conception of what intelligence is limited to a good development of classical cognitive abilities. Today we also talk about emotional intelligence, one of those human facets that, although they are 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 adaptively manage our emotions 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, these types of skills are often overlooked, considering that all people are more or less capable of managing their emotions equally or that, Rather, these abilities are encoded in genes and cannot 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 that is precisely why there are differences too Come in 

people who manage their effectiveness well and others who have not yet learned all they could. Some may even have been learning to improve their emotional intelligence without knowing it!

To position yourself and know where you are in the development of emotional intelligence, here is a brief list with the characteristics of emotionally intelligent people. In turn, these points can help you set goals when training in emotion management.

10 characteristics of emotionally intelligent people

1. They don't just pursue short-term rewards

This type of objective or "reinforcement" is the foundation on which, among other things, addictions and procrastination. Emotionally intelligent people they are capable of not being governed by the immediate proximity of a reward that is not beneficial in the long term.

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 caused an emotional state to appear, be it positive or negative.

3. They know the importance of inner speech

They do not limit themselves to interpreting their experiences automatically, as they are presented, but rather make efforts to construct a useful interpretation of these experiences that helps them direct their objectives towards a useful goal and maintain an emotional state that does not work 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 likely to establish a constructive dialogue.

5. They know how to express their emotions

Both in a dialogue in real time and in writing (regardless of the literary quality of it!). They know how to express their emotional state in any of the possible languages.

6. They guide your actions and thoughts

Towards managing your emotions. They know the importance of thoughts towards proper mental health and spiritual, and they manage this point in your favor.

7. They tend toward positive attitudes

However, they are not drawn by them either, and they know implicitly that there is no bad emotional state per se.

8. The values ​​that govern their lives are positive and negative alike

Positive values ​​so as not to fall into constant and unproductive criticism, and negative values ​​so as not to deny reality and recognize problems when there are. His 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 meaningful tasks for people. They value the need for intrinsic motivation. And, more importantly, they are able to keep their teammates motivated. Have leader soul.

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 believed to be purely rational. Know that emotions shape decision making, memory retrieval, memorization, etc.

Concluding ...

So far this list of the characteristics of people with good emotional intelligence. Remember that, as in all learning, no one fits this description perfectly (among other things, because it can be interpreted in various ways) and that all training takes time and some effort.