{Reading}: Emotional Intelligence

For the past year or so while I've been in my program, I have hardly touched a book that isn't a required textbook. Thankfully, we are reading this book for one of my classes this semester. It has been nice to relax and just read every so often for the past few weeks. At first, I thought this book was really boring- mainly because it does start out kind of slow. But it gets better. Basically it's talking about the different characteristics that make up emotional intelligence and how they can help you succeed at home, work, or generally anywhere.
Here are a few things that I've been thinking about:

1. "The less aware we are of what makes us passionate, the more lost we will be. It feels better to do what we have a passion for, even if the rewards are greater elsewhere." I have been thinking about this a lot lately, so that's why it stuck out to me. It's still rolling around in the back of my head, so maybe more on that another day.

2. On empathy, "Sensing what others feel without their saying so captures the essence of empathy. At the highest levels, empathy is understanding the issues or concerns that lie behind another's feelings. The key to knowing others' emotional terrain is an intimate familiarity with our own. Empathy is our social radar." It makes me sad, because I feel like this is becoming a lost art sometimes. Whether it's while people are driving, standing in line at the grocery, or even talking with close friends. So often it's easy to disregard what may be going on with someone else because we are too busy or out of tune to read their body language rather than just half listening to the words they say. And I totally agree that part of that comes from being out of touch with one's self.

These are just a few thoughts that have stuck out to me while reading this past week. I know I have a long ways to go as far as achieving every aspect of emotional intelligence, but that's the beauty of it. It's a work in progress for everyone and we are all working on different aspects.