“Emotional intelligence is the capacity to blend thinking and feeling to make optimal decisions — which is key to having a successful relationship with yourself and others..” ~ Joshua Freedman
Navigate Emotions Definition: Assessing, harnessing, and transforming emotions as a strategic resource.
Importance: By learning to transform emotions as a strategic resource, we can become more aware, balanced and purposeful. Instead of thinking of emotions as something bad that we have to suppress, we can begin to treat all of our emotions, even challenging ones like anger, as invaluable data helping us to be our best selves. We can turn something often seen as an adversary and make it into an ally.
Example: Imagine you are stuck in traffic. running late, and feeling frustrated. Someone is trying to get over into your lane, and you catch yourself mumbling something negative about them. Then you say to yourself, “It’s not his fault. I am frustrated because I am running late and stuck in traffic.” And oddly, this simple admission makes you feel a lot better. By saying to yourself what you are feeling, you have lessened the power of the emotion, and brought the emotional and cognitive together. Instead of admonishing yourself for feeling frustrated, you simply acknowledge the emotion, and as a result make it your ally.
Navigating emotions helps you take ownership of your life. By fulling integrating your thinking and feeling, you are able to make optimal decisions – which is key to having a successful relationship with yourself and others.
The Components of Navigate Emotions
Assess:Â The first step of navigating emotions is to assess what you are feeling. Identifying or naming emotions, to yourself or aloud, can add some needed clarity to this step.
Harness: Recognize that there are not good or bad emotions: emotions are data. Taking the step back from “I am frustrated…” to “I am feeling frustrated…” helps provide space and lessens the power of the emotion. Recognize that the emotion is temporary and providing you valuable information about yourself and the world.
Transform:Â The emotion, however difficult, is now your ally. It has sent you data about the world, which you have accepted and can now use to be more aware and purposeful.Â
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Emotional Intelligence Articles about Navigate Emotions
Knowing Isn’t Coaching: Three Emotional Intelligence Tools for Professional Coaches (4/3/2024) - Here's how to use emotional intelligence to break out of a fixed mindset of "knowing the answer" and make your own (difficult) emotions an ally as a coach. ...
Coaching Down the Escalator: 3 Emotional Intelligence Tips for Coaches to Reduce Volatility & De-escalate Conflict in a Polarized World (3/6/2024) - As people become more volatile around us, our brains’ natural response is to also become more reactive. Coaching provides a perfect opportunity to step out of this cycle of escalation, but it’s a difficult emotional puzzle; here's a map of the process with three emotional intelligence tips for coaches. ...
When Change Fails: Tips for Coaching with Emotional Intelligence (1/3/2024) - Sometimes change is easy, but when we get stuck, big, difficult feelings emerge. While some coaches are ill-equipped to engage those challenging feelings, it’s a prime opportunity for transformational coaching. ...
Navigate Emotions in the Six Seconds Model of EQ (7/20/2023) - Managing emotions could be helpful... but that implies stuffing them away. How can we HARNESS the wisdom and power of feelings to help us move? ...
12 Practical Tips for Emotional Wellbeing by Being Smarter with Feelings (6/19/2023) - Are you fighting against your own feelings? There's a better way to handle emotions to support wellbeing -- 12 easy ways to practice emotional intelligence ...
When You Don’t Click with Your Coworker (11/8/2021) - What can you do? Emotional intelligence tips to build bridges and collaborate better even when it's challenging. ...
Getting Unstuck: The Power of Naming Emotions (1/8/2021) - Traffic is always stressful, right? Turns out, there's a secret neuroscience tip about naming emotions that can help. It's simple and powerful. ...
What Are Biodots and How Do You Use Them? (12/3/2020) - Biodots are a low-cost, easy way to help your clients become more self-aware - here's how to use them. ...
Celebrating Feelings: Emotions for Thriving (5/26/2020) - In two inspiring, interactive, authentic conversations, we’ll get to the essential basic for mental wellbeing: Talking about feelings. ...
How to Fire Someone with Emotional Intelligence (11/19/2019) - Firing someone is emotionally challenging. It’s easily one of the hardest aspects of leadership. Here are practical emotional intelligence tips to do it with compassion, clarity and calm. ...Click here for more Navigate Emotions articles on our site
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All emotions are useful, strategic resource for decision making
Behavioral sciences perspective also concurs with the thoughts presented in this article. It believes that when we express our emotions we transform them. I am currently feeling scared about a situation in my life. I am naming it here and intending to not feel that way, feel happy and liberated.
This is an insight into taking ownership of your life. As you assess & harness emotions,you are able to use feelings as information which help make optimal decisions around relationships​ with self & others.
It’s a great feeling of freedom for me, to know that emotions do not hamper decision-making! If we are able to capture the energy and wisdom that comes from our emotions, we can actually make better decisions! Wow!