According to the South China Post the Chinese President Xi Jinping and I agree that it takes Emotional Intelligence (EI) to be a good communist oligarch. Taking that a step further I’d say that EI is crucial to being a good anything!

Emotional intelligence is a stronger indictor for happiness and success than intellect. If Intellect is a sharp sword, EI is the discernment and skill to wield it well. Indeed intellect without EI can be the cause of great damage and mayhem.

EI in a nutshell is the ability to perceive, evaluate and control emotions. It’s the skills and awareness’s that facilitate your more functional relationships with others and also, crucially, with yourself. EI defines your ability to see and so respond to the deeper layers of your world.

Your IQ remains stable throughout your life but your EI can and does develop. To expand your EI please consider acquiring and or expanding your commitment to the following elements.

Since consciousness expands where your attention is focussed, compassion becomes the key. Caring about other creatures and wanting to add to their well-being will expand your capacity for empathy. With empathy you can understand and so better predict other people’s needs and motivations.

Another element that will instantly enhance EI is accepting responsibility for all the events that occur in your life. Letting go of blame is enormously empowering! When you accept that all your actions have natural consequences and focus on what you can learn rather than whom and what went wrong you’ll feel the fire of confidence warm within your heart.

Integrity is another element EI invites. When you act on higher principles such as honesty, compassion and personal responsibility you see the world from a larger perspective.

A commitment to this broader vision assists you to see the right thing through rather than being draw to the shores of expediency. Integrity assists you to control your immediate impulses, delay gratification, and shift strategies according to the situation as you see your clearest positive thoughts through to an outcome.

Intellect is a wonderful gift but it’s prone to anxiety induced decay and dysfunction unless informed by EI. I urge you let your heart lead your head.

Martin Hunter Jones is an honorary member of the Australian Counselling Association.

fyi...check out ... 12 Elements of Emotional Intelligence By Marcia Sirota MD FRCP.... it has another similar take on this subject....it was what inspired this document