Emotional Intelligence

The best things in life

– success, happiness, love –

depend on our ability to create and maintain great relationships. Most of us do a good job with relationships at the start, only to stumble down the road.

Why do relationships develop such challenging problems?
Oftentimes,

relationship problems are due to a breakdown in the skills of emotional intelligence.

Fortunately, it’s never too late to develop these skills and raise your emotional intelligence abilities.

Once you’ve learned the five key emotional intelligence skills, you’ll be able to create and sustain secure, successful, long-lasting relationships.
The skills of emotional intelligence help you:
Build rewarding,

lasting relationships
Stay calm and focused,

regardless of the circumstances
Understand your own motivations,

feelings, and needs
Recognize the difference between damaging and helpful communication Accurately “read” other people
Defuse arguments and repair wounded feelings
Find more playfulness and joy in your relationships
Transform conflict into an opportunity for building trust.

What is your current emotional intelligence skill level?
Your emotional intelligence is your set of key relationship skills or abilities that help you establish strong relationships and deal with relationship problems.

Find your emotional intelligence skill level by answering usually, sometimes, or rarely to the questions in this quick relationship quiz.
Test your emotional intelligence
Do you feel connected when talking to most people?

Or are you easily distracted?
Are you comfortable with pauses?

Do you feel at ease when no one is speaking?
Do you sense when someone feels troubled before being told?
Do you judge or criticize some of your emotions or feelings?
Do you pay attention to your gut feelings when making important decisions?
Do you immediately notice when you become stressed?
Do you know how to quickly calm yourself down when you’re stressed?
Do you laugh, play, or kid around with others?
Do you use humor to negotiate rough spots?
Can you easily deal with differences and disagreements?

Answering usually to most of the questions indicates that you have a good start toward emotionally intelligent communication in your relationships. If your answers were primarily sometimes or rarely, you may need some help developing your relationship skills.

Relationship help: The five key skills...stay tuned