Anvesh Apale_HRLP014_Self Leadership_Oct 2012

The sessions on Self Leadership always help me in knowing myself better. By the end of each of these sessions I always end up knowing something interesting about my life. We have always heard that there is a great significance of emotional intelligence in our life but unfortunately many of us tend to ignore this crucial aspect. Emotional Intelligence is something which is not inherited. In fact Emotional Intelligence is acquired by us through the experiences we have had over a period of time.

I learned that deep listening is one of the most crucial aspects of emotional intelligence. The way in which we listen to the people around us often determines our level of connect with them. The exercise we did on deep listening revealed few of the important aspects which impact our relationship with people. I understood that if we really want to convey our feelings to others it is extremely important to be able to articulate our thoughts efficiently. The biases we have in our mind often tend to impact our listening and hence our reaction to anyone is just a reflection of what we feel the person means and not what he actually intends to mean. I also realized that it is not just important to listen to words because the tone and the expressions convey a lot about the intent of the speaker. Thinking about how and what to respond often impacts our listening and hence it is really important to be focused while we are listening to someone.

We were asked to reflect upon what are the things which are really important to us and who are the people who have influenced our life the most. While doing this activity I realized that my major strengths as an individual are exactly the qualities which I have acquired from the people who have inspired me the most in my life. Surprisingly this led me to think about those influencing people in my life who have qualities which I do not have yet but I always wanted to have. Suddenly I realized that I have so much to learn from so many people who already are an integral part of my life.

Within our group we were also asked to discuss about the disappointments we have had in our life as a result of our emotional expectations from someone. This reflection activity gave us a chance to understand the various things which are bothering us in our lives. When everyone started sharing their experiences from their personal lives, I felt that my problems are minuscule in front of theirs. This whole experience not only made me feel even more grateful for everything I have in my life but also made me realize that being happy or not is a choice which I can make. If I choose to be happy, there is not anything which can make me sad.    

Regards,
Anvesh Apale
HRLP014