Exercises to Develop Emotional Intelligence

Self-awareness: keeping a journal of emotions.

Self-awareness is the cornerstone of emotional intelligence; it is the ability to recognize and understand our own emotions at any given moment.

To develop this skill, there are two practical exercises.

The first is to keep an emotion diary, which consists of taking breaks several times a day to write down precisely how we feel.

This practice trains us to pay more attention to our internal state.

The second exercise is to answer honestly when someone asks us how we are doing.

Instead of the automatic response "fine," we can opt for a more truthful answer, such as "actually, I'm feeling a little frustrated today."

Verbalizing our emotions not only helps us recognize them, but also encourages more authentic communication.

Self-regulation: practicing resistance to temptations

Self-regulation is the ability to manage our impulses and resist the temptation to react counterproductively to an emotion.

It can be trained like a muscle.

A very effective exercise is deliberate resistance to temptation.

It consists of exposing oneself to a desired stimulus (such as a chocolate or a ringing cell phone) for a set period of time (e.g., 20 minutes) and consciously resisting the urge to act.

This practice strengthens our willpower.

Another exercise is to, at the end of the day, review the negative reactions we had (such as shouting in traffic) and analyze what we could have done differently.

This reflection helps us identify our triggers and plan more constructive responses for the future.

Empathy: conversing with strangers and recreating emotions from movies

Empathy is the ability to recognize and understand the emotions of others, a crucial skill for adapting our communication.

An excellent exercise to develop it is to converse with strangers.

The slight social stress of this situation forces us to be more attentive to non-verbal cues and the emotional state of the other person to guide the interaction.

A second, more playful exercise is to recreate emotions in movies.

When watching an emotionally charged scene, we can pause it and try to imitate the actor's facial expression and posture.

This act of "embodying" the emotion helps us connect