Awareness of Emotions

Welcome to The Self-Awareness Guy Ver1

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I’m self-awareness consultant, workshop and retreat facilitator Guy Farmer. I love helping kind, creative people take a deeper look at their thoughts, emotions and behaviors and learn how to live consciously and deliberately. It’s wonderful to see open-minded, courageous individuals let go of what doesn’t work and discover new ways to enjoy deeply fulfilling and meaningful lives.

I wrote about self-awareness for many years at my previous website, Self-Awareness Workshops, http://www.theselfawarenessguy.com, and decided to apply my knowledge and experience to transition from a corporate training based practice to a person-centered approach.

Self-awareness is the process of discovering who you really are and living your life authentically, based on who you are deep inside. I started this blog as a resource for anyone interested in taking a candid look at themselves and understanding why they think, feel and behave the way they do. Your comments and questions are welcome.

Cheers,

Guy

15 Characteristics of Emotional Intelligence Self-Aware People Are Familiar With

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If you’re able to deal positively with your own emotions as well as other people’s, then you’re likely self-aware and emotionally intelligent. To illustrate more in depth, here are fifteen characteristics of emotional intelligence you can look for:

  1. You’re familiar with the four basic emotions: happiness, fear, anger, and sadness.
  2. You are able to identify what you’re feeling inside—you can name the emotion.
  3. You’re comfortable feeling, dealing with, and managing your emotions, and other people’s.
  4. You’re not afraid of your emotions, or other people’s.
  5. You understand that emotions are a normal part of life.
  6. You don’t try to avoid your emotions.
  7. You use your emotions to enrich your life, making you a more well-rounded and healthy individual.
  8. You can take care of your emotional self no matter how difficult your situation is.
  9. You have good social skills.
  10. You have empathy for others and what they’re going through.
  11. You don’t let your emotions hurt others.
  12. You don’t let fear and anger rule your life.
  13. You’re kind to others.
  14. You’re self-aware and understand how your thoughts, emotions, and actions affect you and others.
  15. You feel good about yourself deep inside and live a genuinely happy life.

If you’ve ever met a highly self-aware and emotionally intelligent person, you know that it’s a pleasure to be around them because they feel great about themselves and help you feel the same way about yourself. The good news is that anyone can become emotionally intelligent, it just takes practice.

What will you do to develop self-awareness and emotional intelligence?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware People Know What Emotional Intelligence Is

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What is emotional intelligence? You know that feeling you get inside when you encounter an emotion and you’re able to experience it fully without falling apart? That’s what it is. Self-aware people know what emotional intelligence is because they are in touch with what’s going on inside themselves and how it affects what they do each day.

You are a human being that has emotions. In an ideal world, you would deal with or manage your emotions so that they always lead in a positive direction, but that doesn’t always happen because you likely haven’t been taught what to do when you or others feel things that are scary or uncomfortable.

You were raised in a certain way and move in circles that tell you what role emotions should have on your life. The problem is that the information you get about how to feel things may be fatally flawed.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and effectively deal with or manage your emotions when they arise, and do the same for others. It means you’re an emotionally stable person who isn’t afraid of feeling things or interacting with people when they’re experiencing their own emotions.

As you continue your journey through life you’ll find that it will benefit you greatly to learn how to manage your emotions in a positive way. What will you do to develop self-awareness and emotional intelligence?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Developing Emotional Intelligence

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Self-awareness is key to developing emotional intelligence because, when you understand yourself and others well, you are better able to deal with any internal or external emotion.

The process of developing emotional intelligence is not as mysterious or scary as you might have been led to believe. The vast majority of human beings have the capacity to feel emotions and use them to improve their lives.

Being able to effectively deal with and manage your emotions will help you feel happier and more balanced, solve problems, get along with others, and improve your quality of life.

Here are some ideas to help you develop your self-awareness and emotional intelligence:

  • Realize that emotions are a normal part of life and that even the uncomfortable ones can benefit you.
  • Understand that emotions aren’t positive or negative, they are all potentially beneficial.
  • Learn to identify and name the emotion you are feeling inside at any particular moment.
  • Do something that is positive with the emotion. For example: If you feel sad about something, you can use those feelings to learn and grow and take action in way that will be beneficial to you and others.
  • Keep practicing feeling your emotions and using them in a positive way until you feel comfortable with any emotion that arises.
  • Once you are comfortable with your own emotions, start applying these ideas to other people’s: Identify and empathize what what they’re feeling and be there for them to take positive action.

Developing emotional intelligence is the process of learning to identify and feel your emotions, use them positively, and relate to other people’s emotions as well. The idea is to be able to feel what’s going on inside you and use it to improve your life, and doing the same thing with other people’s emotions.

What will you do to increase your self-awareness and emotional intelligence?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Awareness and Effective Communication

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When you possess self-awareness you’re able to practice effective communication because you’re cognizant of how you come across to people. Leaders who don’t understand their own behavior, and how they’re perceived by others, create communication glitches like misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Here are some examples of the connection between self-awareness and effective communication:

  • Self-awareness means that you know how your thoughts, emotions and behaviors affect others and you’re able to manage yourself so that the other person is an important part of the conversation.
  • Self-awareness helps you be more comfortable with yourself so you can relate to others with genuine confidence and kindness.
  • Self-awareness allows you to get out of the way and let people tell you what’s important to them without letting your stuff complicate the interaction.
  • Self-awareness gives you the ability to shift from always having to talk (the result of ego) to listening to people instead.
  • Self-awareness helps you communicate with others on a deeper level because you make them feel valued and important.
  • Self-awareness helps you understand how others see you and how you can adapt to make more meaningful connections and build stronger relationships.
  • Self-awareness helps you collaborate with others.

Many leaders burst into the room and start talking when all they really need to do is relax a bit and listen. Effective communication means that you understand how not to get in the way of meaningful conversations. Self-aware leaders understand that there’s more than one person in the room and that everyone’s input  matters. How will you use self-awareness to practice effective communication?

Cheers,

Guy

18 Emotional Intelligence Examples That Self-Aware People Recognize

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Self-aware people practice emotional intelligence because they have the ability to experience, manage, and use their feelings to take positive action, including in social settings. They also are able to identify and positively deal with other people’s feelings, perspectives, and ways of doing things.

Here are some emotional intelligence examples that self-aware people will recognize:

  1. A person who is not threatened by emotions and doesn’t run away from or try to avoid them.
  2. A boss who is in touch with emotions and is able to use them to be a kind person at work and treat employees with care and compassion.
  3. A person who makes positive decisions regardless of the emotion they are feeling inside.
  4. A boss who is comfortable dealing with employees’ and co-workers’ emotions and is able to listen to them regardless of the situation.
  5. A man who is able to identify and manage his anger so that it helps him learn, grow, and treat himself and his family better.
  6. A man who is able to identify and manage his sadness so it doesn’t affect him and others negatively and helps him learn more about himself and move in a positive direction.
  7. A teacher who understands students’ emotions and provides support and comfort.
  8. A person in a leadership position who is comfortable with emotions and avoids doing things to hurt others.
  9. A father who encourages his son to experience emotions without getting in the way or trying to stifle certain ones.
  10. Any person who is able to identify and name the emotion being experienced and use it to do positive things.
  11. An individual who is able to be there for someone else when the other person is experiencing an emotion.
  12. A person who doesn’t let negative emotions affect how they treat others.
  13. An individual who doesn’t live in fear, sadness, or anger because they have learned how to identify, feel, and deal with emotions.
  14. A person who has worked through a difficult emotional history and emerged stronger and healthier.
  15. An individual who understands that emotions are normal.
  16. A person who uses emotions to live a balanced, happy life.
  17. An individual who feels good inside and knows what to do when negative emotions arise.
  18. A person who gets along well with others.

The key to being emotionally intelligent is to build self-awareness by consciously identifying what you’re feeling deep inside and then using the emotion in a positive way, whether it’s to learn or do something beneficial.

Practicing emotional intelligence takes time and effort but, when you do it, you’ll live a much happier life. What will you do to develop self-awareness and emotional intelligence?

Cheers,

Guy

Self-Aware People Know How to Be Emotionally Intelligent

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People who lack self-awareness aren’t emotionally intelligent because they’re not willing or able to look deep inside themselves and keep working on being in touch with who they are and feeling things openly and constructively.

Increasing self-awareness and developing emotional intelligence doesn’t just happen, it takes a lot of deliberate effort. If you’re like the vast majority of people, you were raised or currently function in an environment that actively distorts, discourages, ignores, fears, or mocks emotions. That leaves you with less than ideal tools to deal with your own and other people’s emotions.

There’s a lot of drama going on but nobody knows how to make things better. Luckily, there’s something you can do about it. Here are some practical ideas on how to be emotionally intelligent:

  • Learn to name the four main emotions: happiness, anger, sadness, and fear.
  • Learn how to accurately identify these feelings when they are going on inside you.
  • Learn how to deal with or manage the emotions you’re feeling in a positive way.
  • Learn how to name the emotions other people are having and deal with or manage them in a positive way.
  • Learn how to use your emotions to live a happy, balanced life.

So, how do you learn these things? You practice them. For example: The next time you feel angry about something, stop and take five deep breaths, then take five minutes to simply feel what’s going on inside your body; don’t react or take action in any way, just feel what’s going on inside. Do this each time you feel the anger. Over time, you’ll become adept at feeling the emotion instead of reacting unconsciously to it. Once you’ve learned how to experience the emotion without falling apart, you can move on to taking action in a positive way.

The key to being emotionally intelligent is to be able to feel what’s going on inside you and use it positively, as well as being comfortable with other people’s emotions. When you possess emotional intelligence, you’re no longer simply reacting to what’s going on within and around you, you’re deliberately and wisely dealing with and managing the situation.

What will you do to increase your self-awareness and be emotionally intelligent?

Cheers,

Guy

The Self-Awareness Guy