Improve Emotional Intelligence with Essential Oils
Have you ever heard of emotional intelligence? While we all pretty much know about intellectual intelligence (measured by an I.Q. standard), many aren't as familiar with emotional intelligence (E.I. ). Having higher E.I has quite a great number of benefits, and I would dare say it's more important than I.Q. is. Luckily, we can improve our emotional intelligence with a few mindful strategies! Find out the benefits of emotional intelligence, what it is, exactly, and ways you can increase and enhance yours.
What is Emotional Intelligence?
Have you ever watched the T.V. show "Young Sheldon"? Not only is it super funny and clean, the writers consistently point out in the story line the difference between the two twins, Sheldon (high IQ/low EI) and Missy (high EI/and probably average IQ). It's pretty interesting to see their social interactions with family, friends, their pastor, neighbors, and teachers. It's one of my favorites, and I watch it when I want a good laugh before bedtime.
Essentially, emotional intelligence is the ability to understand, manage, and use your emotions in positive ways. It also has a lot to do with being able to understand the emotions of other people your interact with. You can see how having high EI (or EQ as it’s also sometimes called) can help you have a much better life!
Check out our 21 Day Joy Experience and go from chronic stress to a more joyful life in just a few days! Click here to learn more.
Benefits of Emotional Intelligence
Having higher emotional intelligence has these scientifically studied benefits:
1) Empathy: People with higher emotional intelligence also have greater empathy for others. This isn't sympathy, which is more like feeling sorry for someone. Empathy is more about being able to put yourself in another's shoes and the act accordingly. I think empathy has a lot to do with whether or not a person can be successful with the Golden Rule (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.)
2) Intuitiveness: When you're self-aware and have high levels of intuition (following your "gut" or what I call the Holy Spirit), you have a good understanding of your actions and the potential consequences. It helps you pay attention to and do better when it comes to interpersonal communications.
**This is a personal comment: For my own life journey, my level of intuition, empathy, ability to be "wrong," and apologize to those I accidentally hurt, and be kind to others radically improved when I finally became born again. It's also helped me to know my own capacities for being around negative people much better, too.
3) Communication skills: Those with EI are better able to share ideas, dreams, directions, teachings, etc. with other people in their home, workplace, neighborhood, etc.
4) Social skills: This is your ability to interact socially. I've always struggled with this, being an extreme introvert, but I'm doing much better these days.
Click here and I’ll send along your FREE 30 page guide on how essential oils can provide more peace in your life with blends and practical uses.
5) Conflict resolution: People with higher EI may be more effective at resolving conflicts with others. Of course this does take two people, but if at least one person in the duo is open-minded and able to speak plainly without hurting the other, there's a greater chance of an improved relationship, or at least walking away without being super hurtful.
6) Facilitating better teamwork: People with higher levels of EI are able to create high levels of positive interactions within groups in order to work through and finish quality projects. Group members feel accepted and valued. The high EI person may not be the group leader, but I would say they’re instrumental to the success and functioning of groups especially if the group leader isn’t a bully and allows the EI person and others to share ideas.
7) Leadership skills: High EI people tend to be better leaders. People tend to like them and look up to them, as well as trust them.
8) Self-regulation: Regulation of our emotions is vital to positive interactions. People with high EI are able to constantly assess their own emotional state and make adjustments as needed. These people are higly self-aware and are able to communicate effectively and put others at ease. This is mindfulness in action.
There’s a wonderful book written by Daniel Goleman, many years ago, called: Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More than IQ. It’s a great read!
Click here to check out SOBAS (School of Botanical Arts and Sciences by Healing Harvest Homestead)
How to Improve Your Emotional Intelligence with Essential Oils
Aromatherapy has edged its way into the mainstream in the last 15 to 20 years and has become a legitimate addition to integrative health practice. As an alternative wellness modality, aromatherapy can support some incredible improvements in mind, body, and spirit….and help us with our all-important emotional and mental health. And as we’ve just seen above, this can improve our relationships with others, too.
Aromatherapy Strategies to Increase Emotional Intelligence:
1) Use in Mindfulness Practices (Meditation, Pausing, Slowing Down)
Some essential oils have the ability to powerfully affect the grounding of our minds and emotions. Reducing heightened anxiety and soothing stressful periods is vital for a healthy body and mind. There are hundreds of connections between our body, mind, and emotional responses from fight/flight, to organ system health (digestion and cardiovascular are just two important ones), and for our own peace and joy.
Using lavender and frankincense, for example, can help to very quickly calm and soothe. If you use them during a mindfulness practice, such as meditation or prayer time, when you smell them at other times, your mind will eventually associate these scents with the peace of your mindful practice. Right in the moment!
You can smell them right from the bottle, create your own personal inhaler blend, or diffuse in rooms where you need focused attention or where you’re interacting with others.
Other essential oils besides lavender and frankincense that are grounding and can help with positive focus are vetiver, patchouli, sandalwood, woods scents (Juniperus spp, Cedrus spp, or other evergreens such as Thuja plicata, the Pinus spp, Abies spp, etc.).
2) Calming the Environment
Have a tough meeting with someone coming up? If you can, consider diffusing calming essential oils into the environment 15 to 30 minutes prior to the meeting. You might be surprised at how the interactions unfold!
Some essential oils to blend together that might be helpful include: any of the citrus essential oils (lemon, bergamot, grapefruit, lime, etc.), patchouli, the evergreens, some spice (cinnamon, ginger, etc.) can be brightening and soothing.
You can be discreet about this too. Place the diffuser in an out-of-the way place and have it set on a timer to go off so it’s not on for lengthy periods, depending on how susceptible to scent the person/people you’re meeting with are.
Find out the best essential oils for daily use, how and why to use them, and practical applications.
3) Emotional Anchoring
This is a REALLY fun strategy! And anchoring emotions in scent is something that you can build upon, experience after experience.
Scent is closely related to our memories. We may not realize it consciously, but smelling certain scents can bring back (if not the exact memory) the feelings we were having while smelling the scent. This can be both negative and positive.
For example, as a child, if you visited your grandmother, and she always had your favorite chocolate chip cookies in the oven when you came over to visit and this made you feel loved and valued at the time, then the scent of chocolate chip cookies in your later years can evoke these same feelings without you even realizing it.
The negative is also true. If you had a negative experience and there was heavy scent in the air at the time, this scent can subconsciously trigger the negative emotions you were having at that moment. Have you ever suddenly just “felt bad” or gotten into a bad mood for no reason? Negative emotional anchoring might be the cause.
Knowing this, we can CONSCIOUSLY use aroma to anchor experiences that are joyful, peaceful, positive, and calming. Or any other positive state of being you want to evoke.
To do this, use a scent that you enjoy and diffuse it during periods of joy. For example, if you’re getting married, you could be wearing some essential oil perfume or have some passively diffusing on some jewelry. The emotions you’re feeling may then be linked with that scent, and when you encounter that aroma later on, even many years down the road, you might be giving yourself the opportunity to revisit the joyful feeling of that moment, sometimes even without the actual memory.
Click here for more information on our 21 Day Joy Experience!
Final Thoughts on Improving Your Emotional Intelligence with Essential Oils
I hope you enjoyed these ideas on enhancing your mind and spirit by improving your emotional intelligence with some practical and easy strategies using essential oils. I’d love to know your feedback in the comments! Have you had an experience where scent evokes an emotional response? Can you link that to what may have been happening in the past?
Or perhaps you’re already using scent on the daily to improve your environmental interactions with your emotions?
You may enjoy my happiness course, The 21 Day Joy Experience, if you’re interested in improving your mind and emotions as well as stress levels on the daily. The activities are fun, interesting, and scientifically backed. And of course, herbs and essential oils have a role to play, too! I know you’ll love it!
Other articles and videos you may enjoy:
Making Men’s Cologne with Essential Oils (video) and I discuss perfumery basics too
Create a Happy Home with Essential Oils
Essential Oils to Help You Sleep Better
Formula for Bone and Pain Soothing Herbal Salve
Lymph Moving Massage Oil Formula
and so many more!
Be sure to get on my newsletter list by signing up for one of my free resources, and please subscribe to my YouTube channel!
Hugs, Health, and Herbs,
Heidi
P.S. Check out our School of Botanical Arts & Sciences (SOBAS)! There’s something for you there!