67
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Connect with your head and your heart
to be successful in life.
Which is more important: to think with your head or with your
emotions? Or is it both? Emotional intelligence is the ability to use both
your head and your heart to make decisions. This includes:
1.
Self-awareness: What are you thinking right now? How are you
feeling? What are some of your strengths? What are some areas
for you to improve? What do you value? What motivates you?
Check out more in the topic of Self-awareness (page 24).
2.
Other-awareness: Think of one of your buddies. Now think of
any incident that was not pleasant where either of you felt angry
or upset. What was your buddy thinking at that time? How
was he or she feeling? What are some of your buddy’s strengths?
What are some areas for your buddy to improve on? What does
your buddy value? What motivates your buddy? Use some of the
strategies under the topic of Other-awareness (page 28).
3.
Self-regulation: How can you manage your feelings when you
feel angry or upset? Try the practices in Breathe (page 18) and in
4.
Social Skills: How do you connect with your friends? Try smiling
more often and finding good things to say about your friends. Of
course you need to be sincere. Notice their strengths and perhaps
share with them what strengths you see in them. And help them
when they are in need. Go out with them and play together. Or
sit down and have conversations about games, families, school,
movies and others. Friends are important in life and you need
social skills to stay connected.