Reflecting on Emotional Intelligence: A Journey of Self-Awareness and Growth

Emotional Intelligence is a concept that has been gaining popularity in recent years, and for good reason. It refers to our ability to recognize, understand, and manage our own emotions, and to some extent the emotions of others. These skills will not only help us in our personal lives but, as I have understood it, also has significant implications for our success in the professional world.

Thanks to FS, I invested around 8 days in this year discussing and learning Emotional Intelligence, and it has been a truly eye-opening experience. During these days, we covered several key concepts that are critical to building emotional intelligence. These concepts include:

We discussed the idea of awareness of our emotions. To start building emotional intelligence, we need to become more aware of our emotions. This means paying attention to how we feel and what is causing those feelings. Once we are aware of our emotions, we can then start working on managing them.

 

So, naturally the next step is to manage and or control our emotions. I feels this is the critical step and more difficult than the previous one, and yes, easily said than done. This means learning how to regulate our emotional responses, so that we are not overwhelmed by negative emotions and can stay calm and composed in challenging situations.

Another aspect of EI is being empathetic towards others, and in perview of FS, towards our students, our fellow teammates and our leaders as well. Empathy is to understand and share the emotions of others. Empathy helps us build strong relationships with others and allows us to connect with them on a deeper level.

Ankita ma’am also conducted a session with us, and we mainly discussed the Ikigai model. It comes from Japanese philosophy that refers to the intersection of four elements: what we love, what we are good at, what the world needs, and what we can be paid for. When these four elements come together, it leads to a sense of purpose and fulfillment in life.

We also agreed to being open to feedback. I guess taking feedback positively is an area where EI is dusplayed. We must not only be open but willing to receive and act on feedback from others, as it can help us grow and develop both personally and professionally.

 

I feel the Life Class was a good opportunity to connect with the people around us. And it’s the people who make an organisation, so having good connections and growing together will develop FS into an organisation we all aspire to work for.

 

Looking forward.