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
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
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
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
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
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
Keep an emotional diary
Spend a week keeping an emotional diary: note down throughout the day what you’re feeling and why.
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
Be assertive, not aggressive
When we behave in an aggressive manner, we intimidate other people but weaken our own position at the same time.
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
Learn to read body language
We can tell a lot about other people’s attitudes and self-esteem by their body language.