Dinesh Sajnani_BLP029_Self Leadership_Sep2012

Self Leadership: Dealing with Emotions

Today we had an enriching session on Self Leadership. We learned how emotions affect our decisions and how we can learn to deal with emotions.

Emotional Intelligence is one of the traits of an inspired Leader and it is usually acquired early in life through education and upbringing. It can however be built over a period of time by practicing effective listening. When a person listens as if his life depends on it, he becomes a part of the moment. This is possible if he has ears of a child and the curiosity to know more.

We also practiced this in class in small groups where we interviewed each other and listened to the responses with excitement. One of my take away from this exercise was that when we don’t judge people, we can see the goodness in them which is otherwise hidden to the internal critic that constantly judges everyone on everything.

As we went deep into the discussion we found out that Emotional Quotient is derived from trust and trust is built through warmth, genuineness and respect.

Anil Sir then shared two stories with great insight. A key learning from one of these stories was that things can improve as we change the way we look at others. The other story taught us that unconditional love has great hidden power and can bring transformation in a person.

Later, we gave a detailed thought on happiness and realized that the nature of human is to be happy. We also discussed the reasons that stop us from being happy.

One such reason is having unstated emotional expectations of those I care about. If a person has some expectations from me which are not met then he might be unhappy. Additionally, it will make me unhappy for not meeting such expectations.

The other reason was having regrets about the past. People feel unhappy for the things they did in the past and also for the things they could not do in the past.

 

The last reason was the guilt that people carry that causes them unhappiness.

We concluded our day by the closing circle where we joined hand in hand allowing our energies to flow and remembered our friends who are still living in our hearts.