Emotional intelligence is our ability to:

•         Accurately identify emotions in ourselves and others

•         Understand and manage emotions

•         Use and effectively communicate emotional feelings

Emotional Intelligence is a fairly new concept – abilities such as being able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustrations; to control impulse and delay gratification; to regulate one’s mood and keep distressed from swamping the ability to think; to empathise and to hope. The emotionally intelligent person accepts himself, acts with confidence, manages all emotions exceptionally well, and makes wise and sensible decisions.

EQ enables a person to establish meaningful relationships and this is due to perceptiveness and the ability to communicate empathy. The emotionally intelligent person is resilient and will thrive during times of adversity.

EQ is thus defined as the capacity to effectively perceive, express, understand, and handle your emotions and the emotions of others in a positive and productive manner. EQ is about connecting with others and with yourself on an emotional level. People who possess a high EQ are more successful in relationships and are viewed as more effective leaders.

EQ has also been further explained as the innate potential to feel, use, communicate, recognise, remember, describe, identify, learn from, manage, understand and explain emotions (S. Hein, 2007).