Does checking in on ourselves increase sensitivity to others?

Thinking more about emotions

Last week I asked whether reading literary fiction could help us tap into the emotions of others. A popular theory about 10 years ago, it has been somewhat debunked in recent tmes - at least the results of the original study have proven hard to replicate. Nevertheless, I am always curious about what does and does not aid us in connecting with others.

Often when I am speaking or training, I share this with attendees. It is Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions. There is no suggestion that it captures ALL the emotions that have been identified by researchers but it is not a bad starting point. Today I was speaking to a group and we did the emotions check-in and as we did, I wished I had lined up the EI quiz that I shared last week from the The Greater Good Science Center .

And then I thought - what if I ask my network to try it out!

An introduction to Plutchik

Here is the wheel in question... Developed by the Dr Robert Plutchik

Instructions

1. Start by pausing and taking a look at the wheel
2. Think about where you have just come from and what you are transitioning too (often I am speaking to people who have just come from a meeting or another presentation and are now in training with me).
3. Now consider for a few moments how you are feeling. What emotions do you notice (even if they are not on the wheel make a note of them).
4. What is carrying over from your most recent activities or encounters?
5. Which of those emotions are useful to you in this moment and what ones do you want to just notice and put down?
6. Be prepared to be experiencing more than one emotion
7. Be prepared to be experiencing CONFLICTING emotions even about the same thing.

Come back to whatever you are doing now.

What's next?

Usually we launch into the speaking topic or the workshop or training. It might be about character strengths, team-building, our internal dialogue or coaching. And at the end of the session, we return to the wheel and repeat the exercise. For many people their emotions have changed even though we have not specifically addressed the emotions that they identified at the start. This is usually a quite effective demonstration that emotions are short-lived, we don't need to get hung up in them or do anything about them, and like the weather, they will change in their own time.

But this time I am going to suggest that you do something different. Take that EI quiz from GGSC. Here it is in case you don't have the link:

What do you notice?

Do you think that pausing to think about your own emotions changed the way you evaluated the emotions of others?

What happens if you reflect on the wheel of emotions now?

#emotionalintelligence #mentalhealth

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In addition to speaking about human skills in?#projectmanagement , and?#Linkedinlearning ?instructor,?Ruth Pearce ?is a coach and speaker. Want to find out more about working with her?

Book a chemistry call here:?Ruth Pearce Calendar

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