4 Emotionally Intelligent Skills That Will Transform How You Handle Tense Conversations
These simple self-regulation practices are game-changers If you want to improve your capacity to manage heated, emotionally charged conversations , start by mindfully taking care of your own emotional needs. It may sound counterintuitive to focus on yourself when you need to gain alignment with others , but nothing could be further from the truth. It is crucial to be aware of your feelings and thoughts and the impact they have on others as the emotions that you are experiencing -- and exhibiting -- are transmissible to others. This is often referred to as "emotional contagion." When strong emotions arise , there is the event or conversation that triggered the strong emotions (the stimulus) and then there is the response that follows (such as avoidance, anger, sadness, etc.) What dwells between stimulus and response is choice. You choose the way in which you will respond. This brief "window of choice" can be narrow and there are, of course, times when your emoti