How intelligently do you manage your emotions?

Emotion management is one of the hallmarks of intelligence.

How we handle our emotions is what finally distinguishes the intel­ligent person from the emotional—the mature from the immature—the advanced from the backward.

Intelligent people manage their emotions intelligently.

They use the tools of intelligence effectively (monitoring the environment—updated knowledge base—information-process—feed­back—playback—simulation—error correction).

The intelligent use these tools automatically to create for themselves environments that deemphasize emotionalism (low intelligence) and accentuate high intelligence.

The intelligent choose their battles carefully—waging only an oc­casional battle that really matters and that can produce positive results.

Conflicts and disagreements in everyday matters are inevitable. How we handle such conflicts is a test of intelligence.

Highly emotional people fight frequently and erratically. Even small disagreements often escalate into major nuclear wars.

Emotional people fight the same battles over and over again.

Most of their battles are waged with "safe" targets: lovers— spouses—-close friends—siblings—employees. Because the emotional do not monitor their environments intelligently they are often not even aware that the targets of their assaults are little more than safe garbage dumps for them.

When necessary such people deploy their intelligence effectively. For example how often do you fight with your boss?

Obviously not often. Because your intelligence tells you that if you fight with your boss you will lose your job. So you restrain yourself.

The fact that the emotional do not exercise the same restraint with people they are close to is evidence of the way they shift selectively between emotionalism (low intelligence) and high intelligence.

But why use anyone as a garbage dump? Why use people close to you as targets for terrorist attacks? Why not use your intelligence to probe the nature of your emotionalism (which may include circadian and monthly biochemical cycles) and deal with it intelligently.

The use of intelligence (including emotion management) is a valuable skill that needs to be taught.

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 668