Let’s look at how to manage your emotions using emotional intelligence. Change alters our center and overwhelms our emotions. We feel out of sync and find that our patience is limited. One minute we are in charge and the next we feel a rush of anxiety and nerves. We are a roller coaster of emotions. We only want to return to what we know and can control. Here we are four months into the pandemic and every day brings more news of uncertainty. For instance, will children return to school? Will they be safe? Distance leaning is not the answer but is it the only way I can keep my family safe.
Manage Your Emotions When Feeling Overwhelmed
Change requires the ability to manage your emotions. Reason takes a back seat to our impulsive need to control whatever we can. The voices rushing around in our heads tell us we are heading for disaster. In other words, to heck with sound scientific knowledge. Control is the only answer and back to a normal we can manage. Here is where your emotional intelligence serves its purpose. Start with taking 10 deep breaths, talk to a supportive friend, table all decisions till you calm down, write in a journal or make a list, get a good night’s sleep. Believe it or not, this is emotional intelligence.
How Long Takes It Take For Your Brain to Shift Into Calm
Research and studies of the emotional brain by the emotional intelligence community has determined that it takes only 6 seconds for your brain to make a shift. There is an organization that promotes EQ that is called Six Seconds for this very reason. Ten deep breaths is the beginning of shifting your brain. Add a positive “I” message to it, such as, “I am calm” and feel the change. Talking to a supportive friend provides us with the hope that we are not losing it and we got this! Table those hard decisions and gather the data to make informative choices. The act of writing provides a way to remove the noisy out of control voices from our heads onto paper. Clearly, the voices rendering us ineffective have their way after a rotten night’s sleep.
Change Is A Given But This One Requires True Vigilance of Our Emotions
Emotional Intelligence is the ability to manage your emotions for our success and quality of life. We all have our ways of dealing with challenges. Yet, this challenge is a whopper and requires a universal response.  We have more time to direct our thoughts and actions. Take this time to build the skills that will ensure your ability to survive and thrive not only now but for always. Teach your children these skills so you are all on the same page. Become an EQ Smart family sharing the challenges together within a framework of reason and calm. We all get overwhelmed by change and this one rocked all our boats. The difference will be how you managed your emotions instead of them managing you.
EQ for Children Website | Visit My YouTube Channel