7 Signs of Emotional Intelligence

Everyone likes to think they are empathetic and can pick up on non-verbal cues, but is that true? Can everyone be called emotionally intelligent when it comes to their social lives?

The answer to that question is often fraught with uncertainty and bias. Let’s agree that everyone can tune in to their emotions and calibrate their social interactions accordingly.

However, not everyone does that effectively. Various factors play into whether someone has emotional intelligence or not.

Today we will be discussing 7 signs that you can think about when trying to determine if you have emotional intelligence.

7 signs to determine if you have emotional intelligence:

1. Open-Mindedness:

People who exhibit high levels of emotional intelligence are usually open-minded. They do not like dogma or radicalism, and they certainly do not like their freedom of thought taken away.

Being open-minded ties into being able to think outside the box, and these two in turn are also found in people who use their emotions to affect great change.

Open-mindedness manifests itself when receiving feedback or constructive criticism, and emotionally intelligent people do not take things personally.

They welcome all opinions and do their best to glean something useful from them, ignoring the negativity if it exists.

Doing your best to keep an open mind all the time will have a direct effect on your emotional intelligence.

2. Self-Awareness:

There is no doubt that being able to tap into your deepest thoughts and emotions is a very cool skill. It is the equivalent of having a superpower.

What does understanding yourself on a deep level entail? It entails you being able to figure out your weak points and strong points, which makes you a more wholesome and confident individual.

Self-awareness also provides you with a mirror of your emotions. You can quickly tell when a bad emotion arises in a specific situation. The opposite is also true.

If you tend to think about how you feel and how you think a lot, congratulations! You probably possess a high level of emotional intelligence.

3. Empathy:

What is empathy? Isn’t it the same as self-awareness? Yes and no.

While self-awareness is more about your ability to understand yourself, empathy is a form of taking action and doing something with that self-awareness.

Empathy is powerful because it allows emotionally intelligent people to read a room and understand people, even if they don’t speak.

It’s what allows someone to get close to people and earn their trust easily because of how advanced their intuition is.

They’re also able to imagine how a situation might play out in different scenarios, which gives them time to adapt and act properly.

In general, empathetic people are more sensitive. That’s not always true, but it’s a good rule of thumb. If they feel someone is hurt, they also feel hurt.

If someone is happy, they get infected with that happiness themselves. In other words, they’re easily affected by others’ emotional states.

Something should be said about this propensity to feel others. Empathetic individuals don’t necessarily agree with every point of view they’re presented with, but they understand those points of view, which fosters better social relationships.

It’s understanding and not parroting others. All of the above describe someone who possesses emotional intelligence.

4. Progress-Oriented:

Contrary to what you might have heard, emotionally intelligent people are not perfectionists.

Their ability to closely examine their emotions prevents them from falling into the trap of perfectionism. Instead, they’re what we can call progress-oriented. They’re always striving to become better with each passing day.

The difference is that they like to take a more long-term approach to doing things. Reaching goals immediately and burning themselves out are not things emotionally intelligent people are keen on.

Also, perfection destroys your willpower to push on, and emotionally intelligent people understand that curse very well.

When they think about achieving a goal, their first thoughts are how to break this goal down into smaller steps.

They’re strategic when doing that, as you’ll see them never giving up.

More importantly, they’re happy with whatever progress they make. They accept themselves for who they are every day and strive for more with patience and grace.

5. Socially Adept:

Emotionally intelligent people are good in social situations. They’re not awkward or shy because they’ve learned how to deal with these emotions. They’re not aggressive or rude because they don’t want to hurt others.

They’re right in the middle, balanced, and ready for anything. Emotionally intelligent people have an easier time making friendships and connecting with people.

All that relates to their innate ability to read others, figure out their emotions, and listen to them attentively. These qualities make them excellent leaders and sages in their communities.

If you’re friends with an emotionally intelligent person, you’ll understand all the above really well. They probably make for the best of friends because they’re so authentic in their social interactions and personal lives.

If you want to become like them, stick with these people and learn how they use emotional intelligence every day.

6. Immune to Negativity:

Negative things are around us all day long. We see the news covering the bad stuff only. We see our friends and family members complaining, never mentioning one good thing happening in their lives.

We get rattled by the negativity and pessimism of people who we thought were our friends. Emotionally intelligent people recognize all that, and they never allow negativity to affect them.

Moreover, emotionally intelligent people understand that negativity kills motivation and the will to live. These things are bad for their personal goals of constant self-improvement and positivity.

They don’t let anything limit their joys, and when they see others feeling down or pessimistic, they do their best to brighten up their days.

If you don’t let negativity get to you, count yourself lucky. It’s your emotional intelligence working its magic to help you stay more positive.

7. Curiosity:

Curiosity is the fuel of an emotionally intelligent person’s life. It’s what allows them to attack life’s problems with vigor.

Emotionally intelligent people always want to learn. They see everything around them as a chance to learn something new. Whether it’s the everyday conversation, the books they read, or the places they frequent, curiosity lives on in their minds.

Emotionally intelligent people learn faster and can apply what they learn in real-world situations better.

They make for excellent problem solvers due to this natural trait, and you’ll never find them complaining that something is too difficult to overcome and solve.

Again, this all has to do with their ability to search for information and make sense of it as quickly as possible.

If you love reading and looking up info at every opportunity, you are an emotionally intelligent person without a doubt.

In Conclusion:

Emotional intelligence is the skill of the century. It’s what allows you to peel off the layers of human complexity and delve deep into the heart and soul of a person.

Emotionally intelligent people possess many rare skills and traits that are innate. They don’t even think about these special abilities they have, but we did our best today to outline some of them.

The 7 signs we discussed are not comprehensive of everything an emotionally intelligent person might exhibit.

However, they are the most common, and to that end, you can now do your own research and discover more of them.