What is Emotional Intelligence?
It is having the ability to recognize, understand and regulate emotions. Both our own and those of others. (empathy)
If you have it, not only will your life be better and easier, but you will also connect with other people much more effectively and you will be able to resolve conflicts and express your feelings much more easily.
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I am going to try to explain to you in a very simple and unorthodox way how our brain works and why it is incredibly beneficial to know how to manage Emotional Intelligence.
In the field of psychology, neuropsychology, neurology, etc., the theory of the 3 brains was developed by Paul MacLean in the last century, who understood the human brain as a compendium of three brains in one.
According to him, our brain includes three superimposed brains working all the time and doing what they can to respond to what we experience at each moment. (There are other scholars who maintain that there are 7 or more)
In order not to get into scientific digressions and controversies and to simplify a little, I like Paul MacLean’s theory that held that the human brain is inhabited by 3 different brain systems, each with its own logic of operation, and that have appeared sequentially during our evolution, one on top of the other.
Reptilian:
This is the most basic and at the same time the oldest.
It is responsible for automatisms and for always being on alert. It is the most unconscious.
This would be limited to making simple and impulsive behaviors appear, depending on the physiological states of the organism: fear, hunger, anger, etc.
It is also responsible for the instinctive behaviors necessary for survival, such as breathing, digestion, temperature regulation, sleep and reproduction.
It also controls involuntary body movements, such as reflexes and the fight or flight response to danger.
The limbic system:
Has the ability to feel emotions. It contains the limbic system, the amygdala, the hypothalamus…
The limbic system, which appeared with the most primitive mammals and is based on the reptilian complex, has to do with the emotions associated with each of the experiences that are lived.
It is related to learning.
If a behavior produces pleasant emotions, we will tend to repeat it or try to change our environment so that it occurs again, while if it produces pain, we will remember that experience and avoid having to experience it again.
Neocortex:
It is responsible for language, thought, cognition, etc. Only humans have it.
It is the most recent development of our brain.
It has the ability to perceive and learn all the nuances of reality.
It is the strategist that we carry within.
It is the one that perceives all kinds of subtleties coming from the environment and from the analysis of our own actions.
For Paul Maclean, the neocortex can be considered the seat of rationality in our nervous system, since it allows the emergence of systematic and logical thought, independent of emotions and behaviour programmed by our genetics.
All this means, among other things, that these three brains would be relatively independent and that they would relate to each other following a hierarchy, depending on their age and the importance of their functions for our survival.
If you want to expand a little more on the concept, check out this article. It is very interesting:
https://www.psicoactiva.com/blog/paul-maclean-y-la-teoria-del-cerebro-triuno
For all this, I believe that the work of self-knowledge and personal emotional exploration is fundamental.
Learning to manage the situations that life brings us is essential to resolve our conflicts in an assertive and satisfactory manner.
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So that you can understand everything a little more easily:
If we get scared by a loud noise, our reptilian brain is activated and prepares us to flee.
When we get angry and slam the door, our limbic system acts (the one that most of the time makes us screw up)
When we evaluate and reflect on our actions, the neocortex or rational brain acts (the one that often prevents us from screwing up).
Emotional intelligence, among other things, teaches us to work the neocortex more than the limbic cortex, although on certain occasions it is more appropriate and more fun to let the limbic cortex run wild.
LOOK CAREFULLY AT THIS CHART AND COMPARE WHERE YOU ARE AT EACH POINT:
ARE YOU WELL SITUATED?
I HOPE SO!
According to what this chart says, don’t you think it’s wonderful to be more emotionally intelligent?
I already am.
And I’m so happy!
And I can guarantee you that life is much more beautiful and enjoyable to live.
Don’t think about it any longer and act now!