The greater your emotional intelligence or ‘quotient’ (EQ), the better you’re able to empathise with others and get in touch with your own emotions. Here are 10 tips for raising your own EQ for a happier life.

By Hilary Pereira

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Reduce your stress levels

When we’re stressed, our ability to think objectively can become impaired: we tend to be more introspective and pessimistic than usual and f

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Practise non-verbal communication

If you’re out of the habit of being tactile with other people, make a conscious effort to be a bit more physical in your emotional e

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Get in touch with your emotions

We tend to let our emotions come and go without focusing on them too much unless there’s some sort of crisis or special happiness goin

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Try to see things from other people’s points of view

It’s easy to become entrenched in our own opinions and views of things, especially if they largely go uncha

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Practise using emotional language

If you’re the type of person who generally shies away from expressing your feelings verbally, make a conscious effort to change this

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Keep an emotional diary

Spend a week keeping an emotional diary: note down throughout the day what you’re feeling and why.

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Think yourself happy

Some research studies have found that you can actually make yourself happier and more confident by laughing more often – even if the laughter is

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Be assertive, not aggressive

When we behave in an aggressive manner, we intimidate other people but weaken our own position at the same time.

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Use humour to diffuse tension

When you find yourself in a tense or awkward situation, the easiest thing to do is to remain quiet or to back down, but there’s a third

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Learn to read body language

We can tell a lot about other people’s attitudes and self-esteem by their body language.