Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Emotional Intelligence, or ‘EQ’ for Emotional Quotient, is all about personal and interpersonal wisdom. Essentially, it means to know thyself and play well with others.

Whereas General Intelligence or ‘G’ is considered to be quite stable, the result of genes and other biological factors, EQ is highly learnable. You can actively develop it. So if you are awake at the wheel of life, your EQ will increase over time.

Here are some posts that make mention of it, directly or indirectly.

How to survive working with your family

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Working with family can be hard. Dysfunctional dynamics transfer from home to the workplace, making life more stressful than it needs to be and threatening the success of the business. This post is the ultimate guide to understanding what’s up with your sibling relationships and what to do about it.

(HINT: This is really for anyone who has difficulty with their adult brothers or sisters – you don’t have to be working with them.) Read more…

You should just let your anger out (or not)

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If you are prone to angry feelings, which is the better strategy? Let it out, or hold it in?

The answer is neither, because there’s a far superior option. It’s much more effective than that old favourite “You must releeeease your anger” – usually by pummelling a pillow, taking a boxing class, or sealing your doors and windows and yelling at the top of your lungs.

Welcome to the second post in the Self-help Hooey series that myth-busts some of the more damaging beliefs of popular psychology. Read more…

Healing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)

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Studying health instead of disease. That was the motto of an informal but far reaching 2006 study into the devastating illness known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) or Myalgic Encephalopathy (ME). With the cause of the disease eluding scientists, this study sought instead to uncover how those who had successfully recovered from CFS had done so. Read more…

No, you don’t have to ‘love yourself’ before being in a relationship

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Self-help Hooey - love yourself

I’m not against self-help literature. I’m a shrink, so I’m all for it. There are a few fashionable self-help myths, though, that drive me up the wall because they are not only nonsensical, but it’s actually cruel to lead others to believe in them.

So I’m creating a series of Self-help Hooey posts that expose and put right some of this silliness. I hope to make you feel a whole heap better about yourself along the way, and equip you with much better strategies.

We’re going to start with these two doozies… Read more…