What is emotional intelligence? Emotional intelligence is phrase coined by Daniel Goleman and can be defined as the ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. According to Goleman, emotional intelligence involves at least five steps or areas, including self-awareness, emotional management, self-motivation, relationship management, and emotional coaching.
What is emotional maturity? The concepts of emotional maturity and emotional strength are very similar, though arguably they develop differently. Arguably emotional maturity develops over time as a person ages and gains experience, while emotional strength is developed usually as a result of overcoming adversity or purposeful development.
What is emotional strength? Similar to emotional intelligence, emotional strength is the ability understand, control, and influence your emotional states in a way that supports you in having a healthy and happy life and relationships. Emotional strength is arguably narrower than emotional intelligence in that is solely concerned with managing one own emotions rather than influencing others.
Emotional strength involves five main sub-skills: (1) becoming emotional aware; (2) learning to control thoughts and emotions; (3) effectively taking care of yourself; (4) developing the ability to do hard things and overcome adversity; and (5) living a purposeful, meaningful life.
Developing emotional strength and overcoming emotional weaknesses can be very beneficial. Speaking from experience, developing increased emotional strength has helped me overcome negative thinking patterns and even minor bouts with depression without anti-depressants or other medication.
A large part of developing emotional strength involves becoming more self-aware, gaining understanding about your dominate thoughts and emotions. Once you understand them, you can begin to learn to control your thoughts, thereby managing your emotions. In addition, developing positive coping skills and overcoming dependencies or insecurities helps increase your emotional strength. Additionally, emotional strength is developed as you make good choices that take in account the long-term consequences of your actions. Finally, developing the purpose, meaning, and spirituality of your life helps you cope with life’s challenges.
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Once you have increased your emotional strength, you will be in a good position to develop self-discipline. Self-discipline builds off your foundation of emotional strength and allows you to discipline your actions in order to reach designated goals or objectives. Without a foundation of emotional strength, any attempts to develop self-discipline will be somewhat limited.
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The final step in learning to manage self is developing a great attitude. While there is some overlap in developing emotional strength, self-discipline, and a great attitude, a positive mental attitude can become one of your great assets towards a successful, happy, and productive life.
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