“Emotional Intelligence- Not a buzz word…it’s the Neuroscience of Effectiveness at ‘Work’”
20+ years ago, I was introduced to and began facilitating workshops about the now popular body of work on Emotional Intelligence (EI). It is now a common part of my daily practice and work with all my clients and lead to powerful results. Its origins date back to late 1989 (Stanely Greenspan) and 1990 when Dr. Peter Salavoy, John Mayer and David Caruso published their research in an article called “Emotional Intelligence.” It became a popularized and applied body of work and collection of practices after Daniel Goleman published his first book by the same title called Emotional Intelligence in 1995. Goleman is known as the “father of Emotional Intelligence” having published additional books such as Primal Leadership, Social Intelligence, The Emotionally Intelligent Leader, and Focus, all integrate the science of EI into essential relationship, leadership, work, life satisfaction, achievement, and mindfulness skills.
What is the science of Emotional Intelligence?
After decades of brain science research, it has been proven through scientific studies and fMRI imaging that our emotions (the ones you feel and the ones you don’t notice or try not to feel) precede our thoughts which prompt all actions or inaction. Many if not most emotions we experience (and the values they connect to) are fascinatingly fairly hidden to our conscious attention. Depending on our upbringing, personality tendencies, our predispositions, and overtime, our beliefs about emotions, we may be more tuned in or quite tuned out about exactly what we are experiencing and why. But our brain contains remarkable data about the what and the why of our emotion-thought-action-consequence patterns. It is exceedingly helpful and necessary to be in the driver’s seat setting our GPS to understand the sources of our emotion-behavior patterns and how to use them effectively and efficiently in communication and relationships. We can gain insights about the EI of our brain by analyzing 3 key areas and functions of our “Triune Brain.”
Our “3 Brains”
The Neocortex (in the front brain) is known as our “Thinking Brain” and is responsible for logic, reasoning, strategic decision-making, and analysis. Some of what feeds decision-making, reasoning and logic comes from our Limbic or “Mammalian Brain” (towards the center) which is the epicenter of memory, particularly emotion memory (housed in the amygdala) and other functions like healthy attachment and relationship development. The third farther back portion of the brain is the Reptilian Brain or our “Instinctive or Survival Brain” and is primarily responsible for our critical fight, flight or freeze and our defensive reactions. Dating far back in human evolution, the Reptilian Brain was the first and most developed portion of our brain and when under conscious and unconscious stress tends to take over the functions that should be performed by the Thinking and Limbic/Feeling brain. This is sometime referred to as Amygalda Hi-Jacking (like any hi-jacking, this is not a good thing) and while in some situations fight, flight or freeze are essential, life-saving responses, our reptile brain still does not distinguish the true emergency situations from non-emergency, work, fatigue-driven, or relationship stress-based situations. Our Reptile Brain generated defense mechanisms work in opposition to healthy, rational, emotionally sound, logical and compassionate responses and communication. These “3 Brains” don’t yet work in sync with one another without our conscious self-awareness, some brain-training, and intentional communication habits, especially under stress.
We CAN Improve our Emotional Intelligence- A LOT!
There are several easy to apply, though takes time to master, techniques that we can learn and practice to dramatically improve our agility and ability to self-regulate, self-motivate, and create highly beneficial communication habits that significantly improve just about every aspect of our lives. Stay tuned AND reach out for more tips and tricks to boost your Emotional Intelligence and overall success and happiness!
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