The Harley Therapy Counselling Blog defines Emotional Awareness as “the ability to recognise and make sense of not just your emotions but also those of others.” This means that being aware of what we feel is not enough to make us emotionally aware. We need to enhance the awareness further by identifying, acknowledging and accepting that feeling in others as well. Also successfully predicting our reaction towards this feeling is crucial in enhancing emotional awareness. It is only then that we will be able to handle our emotions in the desired manner.
As humans we all have emotions. Enhancing our emotional awareness is crucial in ensuring our social well-being. It is deeply linked with how we perceive and build our relationships with our personal as well professional associates. As professionals we go through a whole gamut of emotions, and being able to decipher those early on will help us improve the way we handle ourselves as well as our relations with our co-workers in the professional space.
Build Better Communication
Radha was a marketing professional and often had to make presentations to her clients. However, before every presentation she would get sleepless nights. The next morning her eyes would be red and she would be really snappy with her team. Her other team mates would avoid her on such days and made fun of her weird behavior behind her back. Gradually this created a distance between her and her team resulting in an overall poor performance.
The above scenario is quite a common one for most of us. What Radha suffered was nervous anxiety owing to the fear of public speaking.Radha should have introspected on why she usually did this before a presentation. The moment she mulled over the peculiar change in her behaviour before a particular event she would have identified the reason. It is very crucial to listen to the signs that our body sends us. It will help us identify the feeling accurately. Radha’s sleeplessness, her irritation with her colleagues, the fact that she would snap at the slightest reason were all signs that she should have paid attention to. Maybe once she identified it and labelled the feeling as Anxiety she would have been able to deal with it more effectively. Moreover, being aware of the adverse impact her weird behaviour had on her colleagues would also have helped her in starting that introspection. Probably a short talk with her colleagues explaining her problem and seeking help from them may have sorted the issue. Understanding your emotional self and acknowledging your feelings is the best way to help build the bridge of communication.
Define your Profile for productivity
Ashok was a brilliant data analyst. He had helped his organizations make huge profits through his excellent analysis reports and insights. A few months back Ashok had joined a new organization in a Managerial position. However, a few days into the new job Ashok began to be restless. He hated going to office and even if he did he would take hours to finish his assignment. This he found was strange because he had loved his work. However, the work at his new organization was not as hands-on as he would have liked it. Gradually, Ashok realised his productivity falling. Still he refused to listen to the signs and finally he quit.
Frustrations, listlessness and lack of productivity are work hazards that all of us experience. However it is important for us to realise what is it that drives us as professionals. Is it being more hands-on in the job like Ashok? Or does being a Manager and handling excel sheets and monitoring resource planning is what gives us the kick? Once we realise our real calling we can proceed to define our work boundaries so that others too, realise what we are here for. We are the best people to decide what we want to do. If we ignore our inner calling and decide to tread on the path laid out by others we are bound to get demotivated in our professional lives. Evaluating our emotions will help us understand how we perceive ourselves and how we want others to relate to us.
Becoming emotionally aware is crucial for a healthy lifestyle. It helps us understand ourselves as well as the world around us better. Inability to decipher your emotions may lead to serious complications like depression, eating disorders, sleep disorders or anxiety like in the case of Radha mentioned in the scenario above. Be aware to remain healthy.
You may also want to read other articles written by the same author ‘Tips To Knowing Yourself Better‘, ‘The P-C-R approach to achieve financial stability‘, ‘Emotional awareness for personal and professional success‘, ‘Tips to improve your resume writing‘ ‘Back from the break – 3 tips to make you rock it’.
About the author:
Amrita is a freelance writer currently based out of Pune. She has worked with organizations as a Technical and Web Content Writer. Her short stories have been published on Amazon and on Juggernaut books. She is an avid traveler and her travel stories are available on her blog – Amritawrites.
(The author is a guest blogger at Her Second Innings. The opinions expressed are those of the author.)
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