Day 2 – Morning Wisdom

Title: The role of Emotional Intelligence

Quote: “Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel.” Horace Walpole.

The old understanding of how the brain works was that reason and emotion worked separately and
were in constant tension (“head vs. heart”). However, Daniel Goleman explains that recent scientific
insights into our neural circuitry have shed light on why our emotions are so crucial to rational thought.

The emotional “hijacker”

The brain area known as the amygdala is the specialist in emotional matters. It has the ability to hijack
rational thought and trigger a reaction almost instantaneously, particularly when we perceive something
to be threatening. Unfortunately these reactions are rather primitive and can lead us to overreact, for
example, shouting at our boss, work colleague or friend when they have criticised us in some way.

Evidence from patients with damage to their prefrontal lobe (which regulates and fine-tunes the
emotions) has led scientists to the conclusion that feelings are indispensable to rational decision-making
and in allowing us simply to think clearly. When the emotional mind and the rational mind are in
harmony, our emotions guide us to take the most appropriate actions and logic can be put to its best
use.

Emotional intelligence

Recent scientific evidence informs us that in a sense we have two minds and two different types of
intelligence. Studies have shown that how well we do in life is not merely dependent on our IQ, but on
our emotional intelligence. Intellect cannot work at its best without emotional intelligence. When the
rational mind and the emotional mind are in balance, emotional intelligence rises along with intellectual
ability.

These scientific understandings urge us to harmonise the heart and the head, as living well requires us
to understand what it means to use emotion intelligently.

Fortunately it is possible to create a state of coherence relatively quickly, enabling us to release stress
and preventing our more draining emotions from taking over (e.g. anxiety, frustration and anger),
allowing for a more coherent state of emotional ease and inner harmony.