In the background plays a tape on the subconscious level. We don’t make choices with just one type of intelligence. We are also very open to emotionally-charged ideas and suggestions. We react not necessarily to a present stimuli and our interactions with others can suffer as a result. Decoding our emotions is not only an important of self-awareness and growth. This intelligence allows us to build more robust and resilient relationships.
Many people know of emotional intelligence from Daniel Goleman’s book which brought EQ into mainstream thinking. Some other books you may want to check out – Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Go Suck a Lemon: Strategies for Improving Your Emotional Intelligence, The EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Success, among many others.
In a recent interview on Lightworker.com, Joshua Freedman spoke about emotional intelligence and the organization 6 Seconds EQ Network.
An author and specialist in emotional intelligence, he worked with the EQ-focused “Self Science” curriculum at the Nueva Learning Centre in the early 90s.
Did you know emotions are chemicals in the body and brain? These chemicals which affect every living cell are “messengers for us to learn how to adapt and handle opportunities and threats.” These chemicals are in the bloodstream for six seconds, giving us a signal that something is happening – within us and outside of us and we can “learn to attend to them like an inner voice of wisdom.”
Emotional intelligence is the capacity to blend thinking and feeling to make optimal decisions – which is key to having a successful relationship with yourself and others.
6seconds.org
Joshua also acknowledges that emotions, like thoughts, are not always accurate and often paradoxical, like at once being irrationally angry at your spouse and completely in love with her. Emotions help us focus attention and motivate us. Learning to acknowledge and connect with why we feel is very important to our health, our relationships, and even for a better world. Decoding our emotions helps us take responsibility.
Anybody can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.
Aristotle
We are now more aware of the importance of emotions. Talking about feelings is more acceptable, more “normal” and desired. In the west is it okay for men to express how they feel.
We now know leaving out our emotions is not healthy and research in neuroscience is showing how emotions work, how they are essential in our decision-making, and how emotions reflect our survival needs, for example. It is clear in business that IQ alone is not enough and the corporate world is increasingly aware of the crucial role that EQ plays, through executive coaching and working with organizations such as 6Seconds.
Joshua wants to impress upon us the importance to observe ourselves, develop emotional literacy, be open to what else we feel, understand our experiences and emotions, just like a scientist does in an experiment, and then learn how to put those emotions into action. Decoding our emotions calls for tools that many of us are not equipped with. The importance of this kind of new intelligence is only coming into the forefront quite recently.
So in 1997 the non-profit Six Seconds The Emotional Intelligence Network was founded by Anabel Jensen, Karen McCown, Marsha Rideout, and Joshua Freedman, administrators and teachers from Nueva School.
It now has offices in 25 countries and certified practitioners and people using these tools worldwide. Their vision is working toward one billion people practicing the skills of emotional intelligence by 2039.
Get the EQ Book – Get a Headstart on Decoding Our Emotions
“Emotional Intelligence means being smarter with feelings. Tuning in lets us use feelings as a source of data to help us take the most effective actions.
Sometimes people get too caught up in emotions and get overwhelmed. Others push emotions away, try not to feel, and miss important signals. Neither extreme is very effective. Emotional intelligence means using emotions and thinking together – it’s about balance.”
Get the free eBook from the Practicing EQ eBook from the 6Seconds website
EQ-in-Action are three pursuits – Know Yourself, Choose Yourself, and Give Yourself. These three make up a circle, a propeller that can help you navigate through rough waters and “waves of complexity” more smoothly.
| PURSUITS | MEANING | COMPETENCIES |
| Know Yourself | becoming more aware, noticing what you do, clearly seeing what you feel, and using emotions as data.
This is the “what” |
enhance emotional literacy
recognize patterns |
| Choose Yourself | know you have options and be intentional in how you choose to respond – do what you mean to do – rather than be on autopilot.
This is the “how” |
apply consequential thinking
navigate emotions engage intrinsic motivation exercise optimism |
| Give Yourself | knowing that it not only about today and that there is a larger story and putting your mission and vision into action.
This is the “why” |
increase empathy
pursue noble goals |
The 6 Seconds website gives many tools and suggestions on how to get good at this practice of EQ. Be creative. Be present. Take a deep breath (for six seconds) and see if you are passing judgement or taking offence. Instead pause and wonder, what are you feeling? What else are you feeling? Use concrete words, rather than broad strokes like “fine.” What could be going on for the other person? Observe, without labelling emotions as positive or negative. When we label something as positive or negative, we tend to extrapolate that to us being good or bad or others as good or bad. Decoding our emotions take skills and practice. When we understand that our inner landscape is complex and fluid, we become more accepting and forgiving of ourselves and other people.
Every emotion has a purpose, a message. How we feel may make us vulnerable and life messy. How we feel is also what makes us who we are, how we connect with ourselves and each other. Emotions are our GPS that something is “off” or “on.” It’s showing us there is a need. We also leak a lot of energy from the emotional domain, which can be remedied with greater awareness.
So let’s practice on our skills for decoding our emotions!
Humans as social beings are emotional beings by nature. We would like to think that we are intelligent and rational but that would be dismissing an important part of who we are. The suppression and repression of our emotions can lead to a life with fewer meaningful relationships. Emotional Intelligence is one aspect of all the intelligences that we possess. Decoding our emotions is paramount to developing our overall level of intelligence and ability to adapt to change.
