At first glance, athletic training could be defined as purely physical. But what about the emotional components? Self talk, internal beliefs and managing your emotions play a big part in your performance as well. For example, if you are running and start feeling tired, you have two options. You can think to yourself: This is too hard, I cannot keep running. Or you can think: This is hard but I can still do it. In this situation, positive self talk can play a huge role in how the remainder of your run goes.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is known as the ability to understand, process and work through your emotions. This means that your EQ can change over your lifetime.

Someone who is emotionally healthy can digest their feelings.  The mundane mess of daily life provides opportunities to practice responses rather than reactions to allow your emotional health to flourish. A psychologist named Daniel Goleman believes there are five elements to EQ. These are: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. As an athlete, all of these pieces of emotional intelligence can be used to improve your performance. Emotional intelligence cannot be measured as easily as other forms of intelligence because there is not a clear way to test it. But that doesn’t mean you cannot improve your EQ and as a result, improve your life.

What is Emotional Intelligence (EQ)?

According to the GolemanEI, experts in the field of EQ- The benefits of developing your emotional intelligence include improved decision making, engaging and inspiring leadership, growth mindset, agility and effective relationships. Many people have pushed aside their emotions and knowing where to begin the process of feeling again can be intimidating.  One place to start is deciding to trust ourselves to allow emotional processes to move through us. To help us allow this we can remember that emotions are temporary.  Watch most children for an example- they can be hysterical and crying and then 30 minutes later they are happy and laughing again.

We run into problems when we resist allowing feelings to move through us! Emotions are tools to help us navigate this world and by adopting a practice to identify our own feelings we can make decisions toward fulfilling our unique purpose. There’s not a one-size-fits-all approach to this as we each have a different design and what’s right for some isn’t right for all. That’s why we are given these tools and we need to learn how to use them! If we allow ourselves to surrender to the experience so that it affects us, we create the right circumstances to grow and learn from situations.

When we are numb to our emotions, we have a tendency to repeat the same mistakes over and over again because we remain unconscious of how our choices make us feel.  Make no mistake however, just because we have become numb to our feelings on the surface doesn’t mean these repeated lessons aren’t affecting us.  By cutting off the feedback cycle between our mind, body and heart with an unwillingness to be open to the honest consequences of a decision, we are allowing our mind to navigate our path instead of our heart and body.  In order to journey towards wholeness, we need to improve our practices of considering our mind, body and soul in all of our decisions.  This is a challenging practice because the mind can be very attached to its thoughts and when the body contradicts the mind, it causes us to reevaluate and sometimes forcing us to adjust our beliefs.  Shift from COGNITIVE awareness (in your head) to CONSCIOUS awareness (in your heart).

Emotional intelligence

• Allowing oneself to process emotions
• View emotions as experiences
• Observing internal responses to situations, recognizing these feelings that result
• Viewing emotions as something we are experiencing, not who we are (separating identity from emotion)
• Trusting ourselves to not get lost in the emotion and remembering it is temporary
• Emotions are tools to use for navigating our course through life
• Addressing codependent fear of not wanting to hurt other people’s feelings by expressing our own.
• Not take things personally.
• Change perspective to embracing emotions as a tool for growth and be willing to let ourselves experience them.
• E = energy: E-motion: Energy in motion
• Self-acceptance

Here are some practice tips to improve your Emotional health:–

Increase your circle of friends to expand your support system

It is very important that you have a support group of friends and family, you need people you can talk to about your problems – people who will listen to you when you need to get out of your chest  – So that you know that you are not alone whatever you are.

Learn more to reduce fear of the unknown

Knowledge is power, if you have any problem, know about whatever problem or health condition you are facing.  The more you know, the less you will fear what may happen.

Proceed to improve mood and reduce anxiety

Any form of exercise that you enjoy. Exercise also works well for those who have mild or moderate depression and do not need to take medication. It can be used for stress management.  Think of it as a great tool.

Develop a new interest by investing time in a new hobby

Everyone should have at least one hobby. Whether it is caring for plants, collecting antiques, or listening to music.  You must do something that brings some real pleasure to you – a passion that belongs to you and which no one can take away from you.  Being a hobby and being proud of it is a great way to increase self-esteem.

Eat and drink healthy and in moderation

Alcohol can be a good stress reducer, but you should indulge in extreme moderation.  The same advice applies for indulging in food.  You can eat whatever you want and enjoy it as long as you eat small portions and get regular exercise.  Maintaining a healthy weight is important for your physical and your emotional health.

Practice yoga or meditation to relieve stress

These types of activities are effective for stress management.  Meditation is a focused form of guided thought.  Yoga and Tai Chi, while movement-oriented, also prove to be a stress buster.

Other stress reduction techniques include deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation. Focus on 

Emotional health

Beginning the process of becoming familiar with our emotions once again can seem frightening at first, but I assure you it can be one of the best investments you make in yourself.  If you are feeling stuck in your life, I encourage you to explore this area of your life in order to allow for change to take place. I would love the opportunity to assist you with this practice, no matter how far along you are in it. Please take the free assessment for a personalized recommendation.