How Art Is Key to Your Success: Tips for Enhancing Emotional Intelligence
There has been a lot of talk about the importance of emotional intelligence in recent years. There are many benefits to developing your emotional intelligence, and one way to do it is through artistic expression. Artistic expression allows you to tap into both sides of the brain, and helps you process difficult or distressing experiences by releasing emotions that may have otherwise gone unexpressed. This article will discuss how art can be an important part of a successful life!
What is Emotional Intelligence and why does it matter to you?
The Emotional Intelligence (EQ) movement has been around since the early 1990s when Daniel Goleman gave his first Ted Talk on understanding oneself better.
Many people believe emotional intelligence (EQ) only involves social interaction skills like empathy and conflict management. However, EQ also relates to your ability to understand how you are feeling—your own moods and thoughts--and what others might be thinking about themselves when they're not around us.
emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to identify and manage your emotions, understand the emotions of others, regulate your own emotions in order to stay true to who you are, appropriately handle interpersonal relationships and express empathy for other people.
Emotional intelligence is important because it affects several aspects of our lives. It's been found that those with high EQ have a more successful marriage than those without emotional intelligence. They also report being satisfied with their life as opposed to being dissatisfied or stressed by issues such as work-life balance. Art can help us develop these qualities!
Art And Emotions: A Powerful Combination
When we engage in artistic expression like playing music or painting an abstract representation of what we went through during traumatic experiences.
Art is found in all forms and can be used to express many emotions. When you use art, the creative side of your brain becomes activated as well as your analytical thought process.
What does this mean? It means that by engaging in artistic expression, you are able to tap into both sides of the brain at once, & this usually doesn't happen. The analytical side helps you make meaning out of whatever happened while the creative side allows all emotions that come up in response to being expressed appropriately.
Art provides a means of understanding life beyond our own experience, which can help us to deal with new challenges by drawing on lessons from the past (or even fictional scenarios).
On top of art opening up emotional release through creativity, it gives us an opportunity to take risks.
This process opens up channels to release emotions that may have been difficult or impossible otherwise- and it can be especially important for those who live with chronic pain, PTSD, anxiety, depression, etc., because they often cannot outwardly express their feelings in the moment. This is an excellent time to use art as a form of expression!
How Art can help you with your emotional intelligence
Art can help you with your EQ by letting you look at your life and see it from a new perspective. When we engage in artistic expression, we are tapping into both sides of the brain and use both an analytical and creative thought process to make meaning from having gone through something. This process opens up channels to release emotions that may have been difficult or impossible otherwise.
Think about it like this: would you be able to learn what it feels like to go through something if you hadn't experienced it yourself? Would you be able to share how hard it was living without water for two weeks? If not, then art is key because most people don't experience these things firsthand every day they live their lives--art can give them some insight on how others feel when faced with those challenges!
Understanding your emotions and how they affect you
Understanding your emotions isn't easy, especially for those who suffer from depression or anxiety, but it is an important skill. In the short-term, understanding your emotions and how they affect you can help guide decisions.
There are three key reasons why it’s important to understand how you are feeling:
1) you will be more productive when happy (and less so when unhappy).
2) having strong connections with those around us also requires empathy—the ability to understand what others might be feeling but not saying;
3) understanding your own feelings better as well as cultivating compassion for the struggles people face outside their control.
Here are two strategies to understand the emotions you are feeling:
1) Reflect on the past: What was going through your mind when you were feeling a certain way? What did you do in those moments to cope with or make sense of it all? How have these strategies worked for you in the past and how can they work for you now?
2) Understanding what is happening right now: The most important time to understand your emotions is when they are occurring: "in-the-moment." Once we've stopped engaging with whatever triggered us, even if it's just by taking a break, our perspective often changes. We may still be angry at that one person who said something insensitive last week but maybe after some reflection, we realize that their comment wasn't as bad as we initially thought.
How to understand other people's emotions better
The more we understand about ourselves and our own reactions to situations that cause us stress or make us feel powerful (like making a big sale!), then we will be better able to react appropriately with empathy towards others' needs--or at least know what not to say!
Here are two ways to understand what others are going through:
1) Ask questions about what they're feeling. "I noticed that you were really upset by that comment someone made and I'm curious to know how it impacted you." or "It sounds like you felt a lot of different things when your friend said something hurtful. What was the most difficult part?"
2) Listen closely for clues in their body language or tone of voice. A person's posture, choice of words, the speed at which they speak can all tell us so much! For example, if someone is speaking more slowly than usual, tends to stumble on her words or stutter while trying to say certain syllables--that could be an indication she might not want to talk about this subject anymore but needs our understanding first.
Tips for using art in your life
Tips for using art to improve your EQ
Engage in artistic expression on a regular basis. Find some way to express yourself that makes you feel good, and do it often
Look at art as not just something for decoration but also an outlet for self-expression - this is true both for visual arts and music
Find your own style of expressing yourself creatively: if you're more logical about life, then try painting or drawing; if you're more emotional about life, try writing poetry or singing songs
Tips for Enhancing Emotional Intelligence:
Make art! All forms of creative expression are beneficial, so find the one that speaks most to you and go from there. You may also want to think about what your goals are when making art--whether it's just an outlet or if you're looking for feedback on how people experience your work as well. For example, creating something for someone else can be therapeutic in itself because it takes some pressure off yourself. It could allow us time to process events (e.g., death or failure) without feeling like we need immediate answers; this is especially important when negative emotions have been triggered by specific memories (or "triggers"). The process of making art can also be therapeutic in itself!
Why are we so drawn to art anyway - what is its purpose, both as a form of expression and as an educational tool
we are drawn to art because it provides an avenue for connection, creativity and expression that is otherwise unavailable. It's a way of taking something abstract or intangible (e.g., feelings, memories) and making it tangible.
Art can also be used as an educational tool because it allows us to take the content we are learning in school and make it more interesting by adding visual components! For example: when studying cells, instead of just reading about how parts work together on paper--try drawing them out; this makes connections clearer for you which may not have been apparent before AND there will be less confusion among your classmates too! There are so many ways that art can enhance our lives and help us connect with ourselves & others...and now you know why ;)
Now you know...
Let’s take a minute to talk about art. Art is an expression of who you are and what you think, feel or experience in your life. When we engage in artistic expression like playing music or painting an abstract representation of what we went through during traumatic experiences, it can help us with our emotional intelligence. Understanding your emotions not only helps you understand yourself better but also the people around you because they will be experiencing similar things as well. That being said, if this article has sparked any interest for how art could play into your life then make sure to join the site so that you can stay tuned for more articles on how to enhance emotional intelligence!