You’re reading 4 Ways To Improve Your Emotional Intelligence, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

As humans, we possess a myriad of emotions that allow us to fully experience our lives. It would stand to reason that being aware and giving attention to our emotions, and the emotions of those around us, serves to enhance our daily interactions and improve our overall well being. The ability to understand and manage emotions is called emotional intelligence. Being emotionally intelligent can help improve our mental health, our relationships with those around us, and even our working lives.

People with high emotional intelligence are able to recognize and control their emotions, as well as empathize with the emotions of others. They can manage their stress and anxiety, and are generally happy and balanced. If perhaps you don’t feel your emotional intelligence is as high as your would like it to be, there are ways you can work on improving it.

Get in touch with your emotions

It sounds like a no brainer, but how many times in your life have you not quite understood why you were feeling the way you were. Emotions are way more complicated than just happy, mad, and sad. They are complex and deep, and so many factors go into why you feel a certain way in any given situation. Understanding your own emotions will in turn help you to understand the emotions of those around you and make you more empathetic. Being empathetic is key to having meaningful relationships with friends, family, and significant others. When you can put yourself into the shoes of another and truly get an idea of how they are feeling, you can connect emotionally on a level you couldn’t before and strengthen your bonds.

Become fluent in body language

So much can be expressed with body language. Often, when a person says one thing, and are actually thinking and feeling another, their body language can give it away. Body movements, posture, and facial expressions are just some of the ways in which people express themselves non-verbally. Learning how to get your emotions in line with your body language can increase your emotional intelligence by helping you communicate more effectively and understand the nonverbal signals others are putting out. Communication is important to emotional understanding, both verbal and nonverbal.

Find ways to manage stress and anxiety

A crucial part of emotional intelligence is the ability to manage your emotions. You may understand why you are feeling stress or anxiety, but if you can’t manage those feelings, you’ve only fought half the battle. Stress and anxiety can become a heavy weight in our lives, and it can have many physical effects on our bodies. Learning to manage it will immensely improve our well being. Find a way to regulate your stress such as prioritizing daily goals, writing down your accomplishments, and surrounding yourself with supportive family and friends. When you learn to manage your feelings and stress, you can focus more on overall happiness and tranquility.

Master conflict resolution skills

When dealing with conflicts, a high emotional intelligence can help keep the situation from escalating more than it needs to. Learning conflict resolution skills will combine many of the aspects of emotional intelligence and put them to a situation for practical use. Effective conflict resolution ability involves recognizing feelings, active listening on both sides, expressing thoughts clearly, and coming to a solution all while remaining civil. Someone who can manage to resolve otherwise difficult situations while keeping calm is sure to have high emotional intelligence.

When we are unable to understand and manage our emotions, we can become erratic, depressed, and irritable. Developing our emotional intelligence will only improve our outlook and well being. With time, practice and reflection, you can work on enhancing your awareness, managing your stress, and dealing with everyday conflict and mishaps. Stability and happiness is yours for the taking.

(feature image courtesy of artifact uprising)

You’ve read 4 Ways To Improve Your Emotional Intelligence, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading 4 Lessons On How To Truly Be A Leader from Mother Teresa, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Service towards your team, above all else, is the primary objective for great leaders. They inspire their team to persevere through the tough times, sharing in the spoils of victory when they reach their objective together. A title is simply something that represents the right to make decisions. It does not represent the right to shirk responsibility through gratuitous delegation.

There are few people in history that have embodied a service-filled leadership style more than Mother Teresa. Spiritual intelligence was her greatest gift, and it is always wise to pay attention to the example set by those who have come before you.

If you’re ready to break free from your 9-5 and lead your own company, or need to take your team to the next level, pay close attention to the following lessons, based on powerful quotes from Mother Teresa.

1.“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”

It is almost always better to find ways to build your team up with praise, instead of tearing them down with critical comments. Guidance can be phrased in ways that is more positive; focusing on the opportunity for future improvement, instead of the mistakes of the past.

When leading a team, the words of a leader echo far beyond those within earshot. Choose your words very carefully, for they have power.

2.“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”

The perfect plan is the enemy of a good plan. Accept the regrets of yesterday, and celebrate past victories as your roll into today. Your vision must be focused on the future, but your team’s actions need to be focused on the present.

As a leader, you are the visionary in your team. Empower your team to make today’s decisions, within the context of reality. Don’t let them be discouraged by the past, or bogged down by the future. If your team can embrace the here and now, they’ll earn the future that you’re working to craft.

3.“If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.”

Who are you as a leader? Jean Kim, M.D. points out that an insecure leader can be toxic to a work environment, which casts a long shadow over an employee’s mental health. If you’re unsecure in who you are, it’s time for a reality check.

Dive deep to understand the sources of your insecurities; your need for praise and attention. If you resolve those issues, you will be one big step closer to becoming the steadfast leader, on which the success of your enterprise will rely on.

4.“Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.”

In a world driven by stock quotes and balance sheets, it’s easy to get caught-up in the numbers. Don’t let the numbers drown-out your focus on why you are here, and the steps you need to take to fulfill your company’s purpose. Successful brands are the ones that hold true to their values and understand why they’re willing to suffer short-term pain in order to have a chance at long-term success.

Are you willing to let go of your ego, live a life of service to your employees, and let your internal compass be your guide? Gather all of the information you need in order to be an informed, confident leader. Work through character flaws, and don’t let the past or future ruin your present. It’s time to rise up. With these lessons at the forefront of your thinking, persistence can take you anywhere.

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Rafiq is a Husband, Success Coach, Business Development Consultant, Strategist, Blogger, Traveler, Motivational Writer & Speaker. I have the propensity for written expression, piling one word on top of another until a coherent thought emerges. My favorite subjects are business, politics, religion, technology, lifestyle and history.Also write about his personal experience on financentric .Follow me on Twitter.

You’ve read 4 Lessons On How To Truly Be A Leader from Mother Teresa, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading Focus Like a Ninja: How to Reduce Stress and Sharpen Your Mind, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Our desire to be more focused, to produce more, to think better, and to find clarity in our lives is often attacked from the angle of looking at our mind and how our brains can be adjusted or medicated or sharpened in some way.

But, the truth of the matter is, that as a culture, we are under a huge amount of stress that degrades the quality of our thinking and our lives and it simply can’t be completely effectively addressed by focusing on the ways in which we think, organize our days, or express gratitude for what we have every day.

When you’re under stress, it’s easy for you to lose energy because your survival mechanisms are engaged. Your energy goes to the surface of the body to make you more alert for danger. You breathe more shallowly and become unanchored from your core.

According to Qi Gong theory, your energy is more prone to be scattered or drained when it’s poorly consolidated in your core. In order to better contain your energy, you need to bring your energetic focal point back down to your energetic center. Learning to focus on and strengthen your lower dan tian will counteract stress, make you more resilient, and build energy.

Try getting in touch with your lower dan tian now:

— Let your abdomen relax completely, and allow each breath to descend the whole way
down into your pelvis. For a minute or so, imagine that you’re opening this bowl, including your hips, with every breath.

— Next, focus on a point about two inches below your navel and deep at the center of your body. By scanning around in this area, you can find a point that feels most powerful and solid. This is your lower dan tian.

— As you breathe in, imagine that you’re drawing in pure golden light from every direction, funneling it into the lower belly.

— With each exhale, imagine that you’re condensing the light into the center of the lower dan tian to a ball of light the size of a pearl. The idea is that the more dense and solid you make this storehouse of energy, the more powerfully anchored your mind and energy will be, and the harder it will be for your energy to unconsciously “leak out.”

— Repeat drawing light in on your inhale and condensing the light into your lower dan tian on your exhale. Remember to breathe deeply and fully, filling your whole abdomen down to your pelvis.

— Continue for five minutes or more.

— With your finishing exhale imaging that your pearl sized ball of light is condensing even further and envision your solid anchor of energy in your lower dan tian.

Practice shifting the center of your consciousness (which usually resides in your head, since that’s where most of your sense organs are) down to your lower dan tian as often as you think of it.

See if you can tune in to the uniquely sweet experience of feeling solid in this region.

How does it feel to stir a pot of soup or beat eggs with the movement coming from the lower dan tian?

How does it feel to initiate the movement of walking from the lower dan tian?

How about painting, or writing, or dancing, or speaking, all from the lower dan tian?

What about doing your work from your lower dan tian?

If you make this a daily practice—breathing into your belly and focusing on your lower dan tian—you’ll begin to notice that stressful events don’t throw you off the way they used to.
You’ll bounce back quicker, too.

And all that crazy overwhelming mind energy will start to be grounded into your core, so that you can think clearly, produce more, and be focused.

Using this body centered technique for reducing stress and sharpening the mind has been used by martial artists for centuries. They knew that their power didn’t come from their muscles or their mind, but from their ability to ground themselves in their center and to move from that place in all their actions.

We strongly encourage you to give it a try.

© Briana Borten and Dr. Peter Borten, authors of The Well Life

Author Bios:
Briana Borten and Dr. Peter Borten are the authors of The Well Life: How to Use Structure, Sweetness, and Space to Create Balance, Happiness, and Peace (Adams Media). Briana and Dr. Peter Borten have made it their mission to create a more peaceful world by helping individuals reestablish a sense of inner peace and balance. They are the founders of The Dragontree, a wellness organization with holistic spas in Portland and Boulder, online courses, natural body care products, and resources for vibrant living.

Peter, a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and certified Qi Gong instructor, has taught extensively and has authored hundreds of articles on psychological and physical health. Briana is a Certified Ayurvedic Specialist, peace engineer, and CEO of The Dragontree. She writes frequently on personal development and helps people achieve their dreams and live extraordinary, healthy lives.  For more information, please visit http://ift.tt/2fwgoci and follow the authors on Facebook and Instagram.

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