PRACTICES TO IMPLEMENT TODAY...
We all need a place to start. In emotional intelligence that place is SELF MASTERY. These resources are all ways of kicking off your emotional intelligence skill development.
Because, the only way to build your EI skills is through practice. Doing.
THE POCKET MEDITATION for IMPULSE CONTROL to REACTIVITY
Use this 30 second meditation any time you feel yourself wanting to interrupt someone else, blurt out an idea, challenge what someone else just said. Avoid the impulse of reacting and move yourself to strong listening and intelligent responses.
- Breathe and notice your breathing
- Focus on loosening the muscles of the throat and upper chest
- Relax the jaw and teeth
- Drop your tongue from the roof of your mouth
- Focus on expanding your rib cage and belly with each inhale within reason and comfort
- Exhale and allow your face and jaw to relax further
- Inhale and comfortably expand your belly
- Exhale and allow your shoulders to drop
A MINUTE WITH YOUR SENSES
There really doesn't have to be any excuse to not harness the power of meditation. And I also get it - meditation seems to have a description or definition that, when we try it, we fail.
Sitting cross-legged, trying to open our third eye, clearing our mind of all thinking for minutes, even hours, at a time.
However, mindful minutes are achievable by anyone at any minute of any day - eyes open or closed. Body still or moving.
The purpose of the mindful minute is to come present and decrease stress throughout the day rather than allowing it to build up and eventually blow it's lid.
Set a timer for 1 minute or simply give yourself 10 seconds (3 breaths) to focus on each of the following senses.
TASTE. Bring attention to your mouth and notice it's taste.
SMELL. Bring attention to your nose and what you can smell. Perhaps all you can smell is you :)
SEE. Bring attention to your eyes and what you can see. Start from closest proximity to items farther away. Notice colours, shapes, and movement.
HEAR. Bring attention to your ears and what you can hear from closest to farthest away. Perhaps you can hear your own breathing, music playing, a dog barking, a car driving past.
FEEL. Bring attention to your hands and what you can feel from your own finger tips to your clothing to the desk you're sitting at. Feel the textures.
W.A.I.T.
TRY AN ACRONYM FOR SELF-AWARENESS
Acronyms have a way of directing our mind directly to what we want to do and away from what we don't want to do. Since the mind is quite powerful, commanding the mind is also powerful. When negative emotions are experienced, we can often find ourselves in behaviours that aren't helpful.
W.A.I.T - Why am I talking? Helpful for when negative emotions cause blurt outs and interruptions.
This practice develops the EI skill: Impulse Control.