How many times have you heard your Manager tell you, “You are too emotional” or “Let’s discuss this rationally and not emotionally”? I am sure, the later one has been said by our spouses once too many times too. Women, in general, are very high on emotions. This is her strength and if not kept in check can be her biggest enemy too. That made me think of how important it is for us to be aware of our emotions and the effects it has on us.
What is Emotional Awareness?
The acronym “EI”, Emotional Intelligence, has been around for almost a decade now. In fact, it has become a job requirement for certain kind of profiles too like Human Resources, Sales etc.
Emotional awareness is simply being able to recognize yours and others emotions accurately. This could be in a particular situation, environment or during a communication. It impacts different aspects of your daily life in regards to how you choose to interact with other people and how you are portraying yourself. Hence, its importance cannot be stressed more.
Four Areas of Your Life ‘Emotional Awareness’ Helps You
Undeniably we women are thinkers, one who thinks from their hearts. We are naturally wired that way. While we cannot change our basic nature and should not, we can start by being aware of it and how it impacts our life and of those around us.
- Your Professional Life:
Let’s take an example. If you are in a discussion with your team and one of your colleagues indicate that you are getting aggressive, what would be your first emotion? Do you take it personally and snap back, do you take it as a feedback or do you over analyze the situation and ultimately term him/her as being rude? If at that moment, you are totally aware of your emotions and theirs, you will be able to create the right response for the situation.
Emotional Awareness will help you survive in the corporate jungle and deal with its social complexities. Hence, being aware of the emotions of those around you is equally important to succeed in a workplace, motivate others and grow in your professional careers. In fact companies today assess one’s “EI” for Senior Management or Leadership roles before hiring a candidate. You don’t want someone who will lose their head with team members or clients, only because they are upset about something.
- Your Mental Happiness:
One cannot put a price on mental health and happiness. When we let our negative emotions run wild, we tend to leave ourselves vulnerable to thoughts that lead to depression, anxiety or stress. These are serious mental health issues that the society is struggling with today. This also leads to mood swings that in turn leads to unpredictable behavior that is harmful to you and others. Imagine if we had the ability to know our emotions, reason with it and know the exact steps to take, wouldn’t that be a useful tool to fight those mental health for good.
- Your Personal Relationships:
I personally feel Emotional Awareness is most required in our personal relationships, for we tend to be ourselves the most with the ones we love. So they bear the brunt of our erratic emotions and need to shoulder our emotional baggage. Best of friendships, marriages and family ties break because of that one harsh word said when your emotions were running high and creating a havoc. I have learned this personally in my married life. It is not necessary to voice every emotion and thought you have about your spouse to them. Emotional awareness will help us to gauge the seriousness of the situation and react accordingly. Even if you must say something and is important you should first take into consideration his emotions at that time and say your peace another time when things have settled. A harsh word spoken in haste has never helped anyone.
- Your Entire Being:
You are defined by your actions. What you say, what you do, how you react are all indicators of who you really are. I am not asking you to fake it till you make it. I am only asking you to heighten your sense of awareness towards your emotions that result in your actions and speech. We all want to better ourselves as we grow. One vital thing is to keep your emotions in check. How many times have you said, “I am sorry, this is not me.” That’s indication enough to say that your emotions control you and not the other way. Emotions affect our entire being and shape us into the people we are. Least it deserves is some attention, and pronto.
I can’t say I have been more aware or cautious, least of all that I have mastered the art. Until very recently I allowed emotions to make my decisions, take control of my speech and the way I feel. It makes me question my existence and my reaction and relations with others. How can something this small have such great control over us? The answer is simple, we allow it.
I would like to encourage my readers that all hope is not lost. We can by just being more aware of our emotions and also that of others, be able to live a less complicated life than we have made it right now.
You may also want to read other article written by the same author ‘Career tracking while on a career break‘, ‘Career restarting for a woman on a career break‘, ‘Is returnship right for you?‘, ‘Five things to consider before a career break‘, ‘5 reasons why working moms are highly productive‘, ‘4 Questions to know yourself better and find a suitable career path‘, ‘5 most frequent challenges that women entrepreneurs face‘ , ‘Financially Stable and how?‘ .
About the author:
The first time Susan Kutar (Tamang) realized that words could touch lives, she wanted to be a writer and blogger. She has 7 years of experience in Human Resources and Talent Acquisition. She likes to write about topics that impact people, which is educational and leaves the reader with something to mull over.
(The author is a guest blogger at Her Second Innings. The opinions expressed are those of the author.)
You can reach our guest bloggers by mailing us at support@hersecondinnings.com.
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Disclaimer:
“This blog claims no credit for any images or content posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images and content on this blog belong to their respective owners. If there is an image or content on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it to appear on this site, please e-mail us with a link to said image or content and it will be promptly removed.”
