W hat’s your EmotionalQuotient?

Health Emotional intelligence plays a major role in determining

the course of your life.

Do you believe that success in life is tied primarily to your intelligence or IQ? Not really. It i
your emotional intelligence (EI) or Emotional Quotient (EQ) that plays a major role in determinin
the course of your life. How often have we come across people with great capacity but are
unsuccessful in life? Of child prodigies who don’t quite live up to their potential? The reason
apparently has a lot to do with emotional intelligence or the lack of it, which has rocked their bo
on the journey of life.

Emotional intelligence is the capacity to understand emotional information and to reason wi

emotions, and most important, the capacity to manage emotions. This also involves the ability
identify and name one’s emotional states and to understand the link between emotions, though
and action. “Persons who are able to enter into emotional states (at will) and continue on their
respective paths despite turbulences
which crop up in life are the ones who end up achievers,” says psychiatrist Prabhu Shankar.
Emotional intelligence also includes the capacity to perceive, be sensitive to and influence othe
people’s emotions. These are the ones who enter and sustain satisfactory interpersonal
relationships, he adds.

Preparing Children:
“Though EQ is a term which has cropped up visibly in the last decade, the concept is not ne
in our country. Traditionally, we have always held up human behaviour over human
accomplishments,” says psychiatrist Lakshmi Vijayakumar. “However, EQ as a concept is all th
more significant today as our society is going through massive emotional and cultural upheava
There is so much turbulence that we are facing in terms of family structure, role changes and th
multitude of challenges we need to cope with.” In such a challenging emotional climate,
strengthening one’s emotional intelligence become critical. We need to prepare our children
emotionally too, rather than just academically, if they are to succeed in life for well and good.

There are ways wherein you can enhance your or your child’s EQ. Develop self esteem.
Teach your child to appreciate his positives and be at peace with himself. “Adolescence is a
vulnerable time, an age when the child reacts too much to others’ (particularly to the peer
group’s) evaluation of himself. Teach the child the sanctity of internal validity,” advises Dr.
Vijaykumar. Even in this cut throat era of competition that we live in, teach children that succes
and failure are part of life, so that the child doesn’t crumble with failure when it strikes, she
adds. We also need to teach children the value of patience, persistence and tolerance.

Emotional intelligence may be the best predictor of success in life. Emotional intelligence is
all about keeping your emotions and actions independent from your feelings, the ability to
recognize, name and direct your feelings and use them in a positive way. Well this sounds like
the formula for a happy and peaceful life, leave alone a successful one. So, take time to nurture
your emotional self.

Where do you stand?

Take this quiz to discover where you stand on EQ.

When you feel upset, do you ignore it, vent it destructively or

figure out what’s bothering you and deal with it?

When you are in a bad mood, who first realizes this-others or

you?

When your family, friends or people around you act funny or

abusive, do you react in equal measure or respond constructively?

When taking up a new job or course, do you feel nervous or

excited?

When you are stressed out at the work, do you panic, work frantically
or take time out to exercise or meditate?

When you have a quarrel with somebody, do you fight, chill out
or talk over?

When there is something unpleasant that needs to bee done, do

you put it off or get it done with and thus get over it?

When things go wrong do you get depressed or analytical and

try solving it?

Do you speak more than you listen?

When somebody looks lost or in need of help, do you turn the other
way or reach out?

When somebody contradicts your opinion, you reject it out-

right or consider their view point?
 Do you think your life is controlled by destiny or by your actions
and inactions?

The answers can reveal a lot about the state of your emotional self.
If your answers hover towards the final options, you are one of the smart
ones who have been growing up emotionally too and likely to succeed
at work with people and in life.

Websites:

WWW.ihhp.com/testsite.htm and http://quiz.ivillage.co.uk/uk_work/tests/eqtest.htm