“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” ~ Antione de Saint-Exupery
Enhance Emotional Literacy
Definition: Accurately identifying and understanding feelings.
Importance: Emotions are chemicals, a form of neurotransmitter, that provide data about yourself and others; emotions are a feedback system delivering information that drives behavior and decisions. Emotional literacy is the capacity to access and interpret that data.
Enhance Emotional Literacy is one of the core competencies of “Know Yourself” in the Six Seconds Model of Emotional Intelligence.
Emotional literacy helps you notice, name, and understand feelings. This provides critical information about you (and about others), which gives you insight into the core drivers of behavior. This understanding is also key to managing your reactions.
Video
What are emotions and where do they come from?
Recommended Tools
EQ for Families: Emotional Literacy Workshop: Help parents and caregivers increase emotional literacy — the foundation to emotional intelligence. This program, “The Power of Feelings: Parenting with Emotional Intelligence,” will help them communicate with their children, recognize and manage emotions, and increase self-awareness.
Emotional Literacy Museum: The Emotional Literacy Museum is a self-directed learning experience teaching about the physiology of emotions, emotional regulation, and emotional literacy.
Mixed Emotions Cards – a beautiful deck of “tarot-like” cards of feelings (labeled with feelings and synonyms)
eMotion Cards – evocative, playful moon face illustrations of emotions (open-ended without labels)
Biodots – a simple reminder that emotions are part of our physiology
Bingo Emotions – classic “bingo” game played with emotions (in English & Spanish)
Feeling Faces – photos of real people and data about how survey respondents evaluated each picture
Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Assessment with debrief which provides feedback about the way you’re currently using your EQ and how to improve in this area
EQ for Families: Emotional Literacy Workshop – Help parents and caregivers increase emotional literacy — the foundation to emotional intelligence.
Articles about Emotional Literacy
Integrated Emotions: Feelings Are Allies (4/23/2025) - What if all our feelings had value? Many people see emotions as "good" or "bad" -- which leaves us in a constant state of internal struggle against our own feelings. Here's a framework to rethink feelings as valuable signals about what's important. ...
Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions: Feelings Wheel (2/6/2025) - Grow your emotional literacy with Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions. Then download the free Practicing Emotional Intelligence eBook to go deeper! ...
Harnessing Emotional Intelligence: How Sara Canna Supports Employees and Transforms People’s Lives at the World Health Organization (WHO) (9/25/2024) - Emotional intelligence is more than just a buzzword—it’s a transformative tool that can reshape how we navigate challenges, build relationships, and thrive in demanding environments. Discover how Sara Canna brought EQ to the World Health Organization, empowering employees to manage change, stress, and personal growth. ...
Emotion Science from Inside Out 2 – EQ Education News (7/10/2024) - What do you think and feel about the emotions in Inside Out 2? Let's unpack the science and how you can use the film to keep developing emotional intelligence skills for you, your faculty and students. ...
Is Boredom Bad for Kids? Emotional Intelligence Education News (6/12/2024) - Let's unpack boredom and how emotional intelligence can help you with tips to support bored children (and keep your cool!). Keep reading for EQ research and resources you can use for you, your faculty and students. ...
The Neuroscience of Chai: Overcoming My Own Obstinance (1/15/2024) - Why do we sometimes take risks to learn, but other times we're so determined to stay "right"? Zooming into the neurobiology, in a sense we have a tug-of-war between the striatum and the amygdala, between opportunity and risk. It's just like trying Chai for the first time on the steamy streets of Kuala Lumpur. ...
Emotional Insights for Leaders: What Is Overwhelm Trying to Tell You? (11/28/2023) - Practical tips and activities to turn feelings of overwhelm into clarity and productivity - for you and your team. ...
Emotional Insights for Leaders: Compassion and How to Use it to Build High Performing Teams (10/24/2023) - In this installment of the Emotional Insights for Leaders series, we look at an emotion that is critical for success: Compassion. ...
Getting Off the Trouble Train (7/30/2023) - "Have you ever found yourself in the middle a situation and you know it will to turn into a big mess? You can feel it slipping out of control… and yet you keep going. It’s as if you’re being pushed along this track; you know it’s going to lead to trouble, but it seems like there’s no choice." ...
more emotional literacy articles on our site
Other Resources
HBR blog on recognizing emotions http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2012/05/do-you-know-what-you-are-feeli.html
Paul Ekman’s Emotions Revealed
Chip Conley’s Emotional Equations
- Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions: Feelings Wheel - February 6, 2025
- Enhance Emotional Literacy - July 13, 2023
- Technology Loneliness: EQ Tips from Daniel Goleman - October 24, 2020
