Steven J. Stein

Emotional intelligence involves understanding your emotions and the emotions of the people around you. Emotional awareness can help you in many different situations — at home, school, and work.In this Cheat Sheet you’ll find a definition of emotional intelligence and the key traits of an emotionally intelligent person, as well as helpful strategies for using emotional intelligence to calm down when you’re upset, interpret other people’s body language, and even deal with people you don’t like in the workplace.

Emotional intelligence has to do with a person’s ability to recognize, understand, and manage his or her own emotions and the emotions of others. Emotions can help us solve problems and guide our relationships, both at home and at work. Some people (with high emotional intelligence or EQ) harness the wisdom of emotions better than others.

Hot emotions, such as anger and jealousy, tend to get you into trouble and can be difficult to manage and control. You can use emotional intelligence to turn hot emotions into cool emotions and calm yourself down with these distraction and coping techniques: Distraction: For example, Count to ten. Think of something incompatible with the situation, such as a warm, sunny beach.

At work, emotional intelligence can help you deal effectively with difficult people and situations. If you’re in the unfortunate position of working with people that you don’t like, you can follow these tips to get the most out of the time spent with your co-workers: Know your work style. Determine whether certain people bother you or whether you generally just want to work alone.

Studies show that your body language communicates up to 50 percent of what you want to say. Paying attention to a person’s body language can help you begin to understand what he or she might really be feeling. Here are some important body-language signs to watch for: Anger: Hands on hips posture or arms folde