2 Steps to Emotional Wisdom and Fostering Resilience

What is emotional wisdom?

Emotional wisdom is the collective knowledge and experience that result from having lived a life of emotional diversity.

You obtain emotional wisdom by learning from past mistakes and taking that which you’ve learned into the future with you.

Our emotions are continually giving us messages about what feels good and what doesn’t, what feels right and what feels wrong, what is acceptable and what isn’t, and the ultimate direction we should be going.

Here are two simple steps to help you achieve greater emotional wisdom (keep it simple with the acronym: IA)

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Interpret

Recently, there was an event that was very special to me and I thought I’d have support from those who are close to me. At first, I felt very sad and angry, but I started to become aware of these strong emotions affecting my behaviour and I realized I didn’t want to feel this way. I kept asking myself, “Why is this affecting me so much?” However, the right question is, “How can I see it from their perspective?”

A huge part of developing emotional wisdom is in learning from the experiences we have. By interpreting your behaviours, you can gain a wide understanding of what’s going on inside you.

As soon as I asked the right question, possible answers came flooding – maybe they have other commitments, or maybe this event is not within their budget.

Adjust

As soon as I interpreted my emotions and looked at the situation from another perspective, I started feeling better and my behaviour changed.

The ability to adjust your emotion to your present situation is a sign of true emotional wisdom. When speaking to leaders, I call it Emotional Flexibility, because it’s the ability to adapt to any situation.

Like anything, this takes practice, but when you learn to properly interpret the messages your emotions send you, you can adjust as you feel necessary.

True emotional wisdom comes from looking within.

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