Imagine if a car had no gauge for gas. Every day you would be driving wondering when the car was going to stop. You might change the way you drive to work. You wouldn’t be able to budget for gasoline each month because you can’t tell how much gasoline you are using. Driving the car would be a constant risk in not knowing when you would run out of gasoline. At the gas station, you’d be in constant danger of overflow because you would not be able to tell how much gasoline you have put in your car. Without a gauge for gas, living with a car would be very inconvenient and change the way the whole world works.
We have a natural gauge for our emotions that sometimes runs on full and sometimes runs on empty. Generally, we can describe our feelings as “good” or “bad”. When we feel good we might be feeling joy, enthusiasm, happiness, or love. When we feel bad we might be feeling anger, frustration, sadness, or disappointment. Emotional intelligence asks us to keep a more distinct gauge on our emotions. Like a gas gauge, we can be a quarter full or three quarters full of different emotions. Being empty or full doesn’t help. Only being able to identify whether we are feeling “good” or “bad” is like living life without a gas gauge. Once we develop emotional intelligence through therapy and treatment, our life becomes a more convenient place to exist emotionally. We can define exactly what it is we are feeling and then respond to that feeling appropriately.
Why we halt development in emotional intelligence
Trauma can put a halt in our emotional development. If we experience trauma at a young, developmental age, our brain can create blockages to prevent us from developing in a way that might contribute to traumatic memories. Traumatic feelings are difficult to cope with, especially when there is no vocabulary to describe those feelings. Instead, we resort to feeling “bad” and put a blanket over our emotions, negating our ability to cope with them.
Why emotional intelligence is important
Emotional intelligence gives us the opportunity to gauge where we are and adequately cope with our feelings. Rather than try to feel “good” instead of feeling “bad” we can investigate why we feel “angry” instead of feeling in “acceptance”. If we feel “sad” we can investigate why. If we feel “disappointed” we can look into our expectations and find a way to embrace the ups and downs of live. Emotional intelligence helps us make more sense of our world, inside and outside, helping us to recover and live in recovery.
You can recover from trauma, addiction, and mental health. The Guest House Ocala offers private residential treatment specializing in the treatment of trauma and all of its related issues. Call us today for information on our programs of care in Ocala, Florida: 1-855-483-7800