The Information in Emotion: Interest

The emotion of interest shows up when we are curious and explore a situation to understand. This emotion serves us by motivating a desire to learn, invest energy in exploring a particular situation, and initiate with others.

When you experience interest, the "information" is that:

• you and others have something to offer.
• there is something that draws us to it (them) that we find energizing
• we engage without worry of judgment.
• we want to engage in useful dialogue.
• respect and hold in some positive regard the other's abilities or perspectives.
• we are willing to include the others for a period of time in pursuit of understanding

We can stimulate the emotion of interest in some of the following ways:

Physical activities: Regularly engage in hobbies to encourage the benefits of interest. Consider this reflection: How can exploring areas of interest become part of my daily habits?

Spiritual connection: Meditate in preferred settings. Reflect on: What can I learn from my interests?

Cognitive strategy: Identify how to use motivated interest in areas needing development. Reflect on: How can I organize more of my typical habits around natural interests?

Social networking: Share your enthusiasm for an object or topic of interest with others. Reflect on: How can I engage others with my interests?

Emotions tactic: Reflect on: How could I do more of the things I find naturally engaging?

All of our emotions serve us in particular ways. The more we understand their purpose and how they motivate us, the easier it is to understand how to use them constructively in ourselves and others.

We (@talenttelligent) take the researchers in the field of emotional intelligence seriously when they say that robust EQ begins with understanding the information in emotions, which allows us to be an intelligent manager of our emotions and those of others.