Managing your emotions

• Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage our emotions and those of others.
• The first step is to understand how our own emotions affect how we think and act.
• Also vitial to understand how our emotions affect others.
• Become more aware of other people's emotions, what impact they have on how they behave and on how we feel.
• Don't manipulate or suppress feelings. Understand, support and channel emotions as productively as possible.
• We think we are aware of our feelings, personal traits, strengths and weaknesses, but we are actually more aware of our failings than our good points.
• Why? Because the good we do comes naturally for us so we take it for granted and discount it by saying it was nothing or by saying surely everyone does that.
• You can't manage how you feel about things unless you are fully aware of both sides of yourself - good and not so good.
• Some people over emphasize their bad points and others are so good at defending themselves, without realizing it that they are always in denial.

Steps to managing emotions more successfully