I enjoyed this recent article by Travis Bradberry, co-author of the best-selling book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0.
I think some people have naturally high EQ, but we can all improve our levels. This article articulates very well a lot of the skills, qualities and behaviours we nurture through psychotherapy and counselling to do just that, such as helping clients to:
- be able to identify, distinguish, name and choose if, how and when to express different emotions
- actively work on countering negative self-talk, perhaps through writing the thought down on one side of a sheet of paper, and a rebuttal on the other
- become more assertive – say what they mean, and mean what they say
- give up on the idea that perfectionism is a good thing!
I’d love to see this stuff taught in schools, though it would surely do us therapists out of a lot of work!
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