Relationships

Emotional intelligence is the key to having a successful relationship with yourself and others, which in turn is the key to a long and satisfying life. These articles explore the relationship between emotional intelligence and relationships.

Getting Off the Trouble Train

“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.”

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Smarter About Feelings

When I was a kid, no one taught me about emotions. They’re so powerful! And such a big part of our lives… here are the most important ideas every kid (and adult) needs to know about feelings.

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The Coronavirus Connection Challenge

Challenge – let’s counter “social distancing” by changing it to “physical distancing… together” & using this time for strengthening connections. Caring emotions are also contagious!

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The Best Valentine’s Gift? A Big Box of EMPATHY

This Valentine’s Day, give your lover, spouse, or best friend what they really deserve: Your undivided attention. Empathy means listening without fixing, talking about your stories, or wondering what will happen next on your favorite TV show. Learn how to be more empathetic with this post.

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Home for The Holidays? What Are Your Patterns?

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What Relationship Pattern Holds You Back?

Everyone has their own pattern when it comes to relationships. ‘Attachment Styles’ have been studied in psychology for years, and its wisdom is now starting to find its way into everyday relationships. What’s your attachment style, and how can you best work with it?

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Illuminate: Share Your Gratitude

This week, in the United States, is the holiday of Thanksgiving: a time when people get together, share what they’re thankful for, and eat a lot of turkey. I knew I wanted to focus this week’s Illuminate on gratitude, and one of the activities from this month’s POP-UP Festivals reminded me of one of my favorite activities: writing thank-you notes.

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The Life or Death Science of Community

Relationships are the bedrock, the foundation, of a long and satisfying life. And according to a growing body of research, building community is quite literally a matter of life and death. So what helps us build community?

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Community and Emotional Intelligence

What is that emotional component of community? How does it fare in these days of dissent and dissolution? If we want to strengthen community, how can emotional intelligence fuel this connection?

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Feeling Stressed? It’s a Laughing Matter

Stress is on the rise – especially after the recent election. Fortunately, a bit of emotional intelligence will help you dissolve stress the fun way: Humor! Here’s how to use emotional intelligence to fuel laughter to manage stress. When Was the Last Time You Laughed? The terribly stressful events of recent weeks–I write in the […]

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EQ Stories: Coaching a Career Change

EQ Stories are profiles of people whose lives have been helped by emotional intelligence and Six Seconds’ coaching model. This story is from Six Seconds’ Marilynn Jorgensen, Master Coach/ICF Trainer. Why is emotional intelligence coaching so powerful?  “Bill” is a senior leader who needed EQ: ” I was moving up in my career and yet […]

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Assessing Trust

Want more clarity about how much you trust someone? Try these 3 techniques for assessing trust in a relationship.

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Can we create emotionally intelligent connections online?

I’m a “connector”… I love making new connections with colleagues around the world . . . I love connecting people to each other. I love the social networks that we’ve created to inspire each other with wisdom, commitment,  research, and experience with emotional intelligence. Through social media, as have many of you, I’ve shared ideas, […]

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Connecting with Patients: The Basic Ingredient of Care

As the pace of healthcare increases, empathy is becoming scarce. Yet research shows that empathy actually may save time – and save lives. The learnable skills of emotional intelligence may be an essential ingredient in supporting providers to meaningfully and effectively connect with patients.

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Where Do You Want The Ball To Go?

I’ve noticed something intriguing – if you have no idea what result you want, you’re unlikely to get it. My skills at pool/billiards are terrible, but I still can plan ahead and think about how I’m going to whack the cue ball to get a particular result. Isn’t this true of all of our interactions? If we decide “where we want the ball to go” in our meetings, conversations, interactions… then it’s much more probably we can make that happen.

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The Way You Are

Is there a way to be unconditionally loving, and also to hold high expectations? As parents, can we love our kids “as they are” AND help them be better?

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Feel the Power: Flexing EQ

The use of power is central to our interactions as leaders, coaches, parents, and change agents. To be more effective, emotional intelligence will help us understand and tune up our own use of power and the ways people react to that. There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of different forms of power. All of these “work” in some sense. If they generate certain desired there are “benefits.” At the same time, each produces unwanted side effects, called “costs.” What are some of the forms of power that you have, and that you exercise? What happens when you exercise these different forms of power? What price do you pay for each such use?

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Are We Wired for Empathy?

The neuroscience of empathy is fascinating and offers practical lessons for leadership and life. Our brains are wired for social connection through Mirror Neurons, which cause us to experience what we perceive.

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Right Speech by Eknath Easwaran

Karen McCown, Six Seconds’ Founder, handed this article to me several years ago. It’s stuck with me as a powerful set of guidelines for being impeccable with words. The children, Patty and I have discussed the “three gatekeepers” often over the last years; we started when the kids were 4 and 6 years old and […]

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