*Emotional Intelligence* by psychologist and science journalist Daniel Goleman is a groundbreaking work that challenges the traditional understanding of what makes people successful in life.

मनोवैज्ञानिक और विज्ञान पत्रकार डैनियल गोलेमैन द्वारा 1995 में प्रकाशित *भावनात्मक बुद्धिमत्ता* एक अभूतपूर्व कृति है जो लोगों को जीवन में सफल बनाने वाले कारकों की पारंपरिक समझ को चुनौती देती है। हालाँकि लंबे समय से बुद्धि को बुद्धिमत्ता का प्राथमिक माप माना जाता रहा है, गोलेमैन का तर्क है कि भावनात्मक बुद्धिमत्ता—अपनी और दूसरों की भावनाओं को पहचानने, समझने और प्रबंधित करने की हमारी क्षमता—उतनी ही महत्वपूर्ण है।

मनोविज्ञान  के आधार पर, गोलेमैन पाठकों को भावनात्मक बुद्धिमत्ता के पाँच प्रमुख घटकों से परिचित कराते हैं: आत्म-जागरूकता, आत्म-नियमन, प्रेरणा, सहानुभूति और सामाजिक कौशल। वह दर्शाते हैं कि ये गुण व्यक्तिगत और व्यावसायिक दोनों ही स्थितियों में हमारे व्यवहार, संबंधों, निर्णय लेने और प्रदर्शन को कैसे प्रभावित करते हैं।

गोलेमैन के काम ने “स्मार्ट” होने के अर्थ को नए सिरे से परिभाषित करने में मदद की और शिक्षा, नेतृत्व और मानसिक स्वास्थ्य के क्षेत्र में एक वैश्विक आंदोलन को जन्म दिया। वैज्ञानिक अंतर्दृष्टि को व्यावहारिक सलाह के साथ मिलाते हुए, *भावनात्मक बुद्धिमत्ता*  पुनर्विचार करने के लिए आमंत्रित करती है—बाधाओं के रूप में नहीं, बल्कि मानव विकास और जुड़ाव के लिए आवश्यक उपकरणों के रूप में।

Published in 1995, Emotional Intelligence by psychologist and science journalist Daniel Goleman is a groundbreaking work that challenges the traditional understanding of what makes people successful in life. While IQ has long been viewed as the primary measure of intelligence, Goleman argues that emotional intelligence—our ability to recognize, understand, and manage our own emotions and the emotions of others—is equally, if not more, important.

Drawing on research in psychology and neuroscience, Goleman introduces readers to five key components of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. He demonstrates how these traits influence our behavior, relationships, decision-making, and performance in both personal and professional settings.

Goleman’s work helped redefine what it means to be “smart” and sparked a global movement in education, leadership, and mental health. Blending scientific insight with practical advice, Emotional Intelligence invites readers to rethink how they approach emotions—not as obstacles, but as essential tools for human growth and connection.

it really is not selfish to consider your own happiness as your top priority for the following three reasons.

You are importantIt is true. You are an important person. I don’t care about your profession, employment status, or income. You are important. Look back at your past. Think about how different the world around you might be if you had not been born. How has your life impacted others? Don’t dismiss small contributions as unimportant because the truth is that it is often these many small changes that lead to a greater good.
   Now think about your life right now. How many people depend on you among your family, friends, and community? If you stayed in bed tomorrow how many lives would be affected by your absence?
   Now think about your future. What potential exists for your life to impact the lives of others? Think about your home and family, your friends and community, and your professional life. Don’t think about probabilities but rather possibilities. You have the potential to change many lives just by being you and living your life. You are important because you are the sum total of all these effects: your past, your present, and your future. What you have done, what you are doing, and what you can do in the future are all the elements that make you an important and valuable person who deserves to be happy.

Your happiness people aroundWhile your family and friends should not depend on you to make them happy it is very true that if you are unhappy you can make it much more difficult for others around you to be happy.
   There is an old saying that frequently crops up on sitcoms and tee shirts, “If Momma Ain’t Happy, Ain’t Nobody Happy.” This is often good for a laugh but we all know it is true. If a parent is unhappy then often the rest of the household will be unhappy too.
   It only takes one bad apple to spoil the whole barrel, as another the old saying goes, and this is true whenever any group of humans gathers together. If one friend or family member is not happy then their unhappiness can spread to infect the others in the group.
   You deserve to be happy for yourself but you should also strive for happiness so if you are going to spread a mood then it will be a good one.

Your happiness affects the worldHow many times have you been simply going through life, not really in a good or bad mood, and then someone took a moment to give you a smile. What happened to your mood? Did you smile back? Another old saying is that smiles are contagious and this may be a very powerful argument for your own personal happiness.
   Can you imagine possessing the power to spread smiles? You do not need to imagine it because you already possess that power.
   You simply need to get yourself into the habit of smiling. Smile at your loved ones, smile at your friends, and smile at strangers on the street, and soon you will be making a strong contribution to make the world a happier place.
   Your happiness is important because you are a significant person, your mood impacts your family and friends, and your happiness affects the world. 
 By  :  Deanna Mascle is a teacher, coach and freelance writer in the USSource : sunday times 

 

Spirituality brings purpose and meaning to life, and as we develop it, we grow in wisdom and love. We begin to experience a sense of awe, a sense of connection to all of life, and a deep reverence for the Divine. We find ourselves moved to prayers of gratitude and moments of spontaneous worship. Spirituality calls a human being to a life of trust and service.
    When our spirituality is nurtured and vibrant, we are connected. This connection is both a sense of relationship to the Creator, Great Spirit, or God (divine force), as well as a relationship to all people and to Mother Earth (our life-giving environment). Spirituality takes us beyond our egocentered lives by expanding our hearts with compassion towards all.
    Spirituality does not dwell in a realm apart. It is not an extracurricular activity. Spirituality involves a reverent attitude toward all things because it awakens us to a divine presence in all things. In this way of seeing and being, all things and persons are interconnected and interdependent. In the Sioux native language, the word for the Great Spirit is Wakan, which means ‘the great mystery.’ Yet this spirit, full of mystery, is every bit as real as the visible, tangible world.
    It is important to differentiate spirituality from religion. Some people have rejected religion in order to escape what they consider to be oppressive rules and regulations. In the
process, however, many lose the great gifts of joy and compassion that spirituality brings.
    Religion and spirituality are related and intertwined, but they are not the same. A person may experience spirituality without being a member of any specific religious affiliation, and even the most religious person may feel spiritually bereft. The true purpose of religion is to enhance spirituality through ritual and practice. This is accomplished when a person approaches his or her religion as a way to enter the great mystery, to become aware of the sacredness of all life.
    Religion can become a barrier to spirituality when it insists on narrow, judgmental dogma, and estranges its followers from a sense of connection with the Divine. Religion serves us best as a vehicle to nourish and develop our spirituality.
    It is possible, however, to get too caught up in the vehicle, the religious practice, while losing sight of the destination, spirituality, which is communion with the Divine and compassion for all. For modern, academically oriented professionals, like physicians and health care workers, spirituality is often a difficult subject.
    Their training is framed by science. They depend on logical, analytical, and rational approaches, and for good reason. These approaches have successfully ushered in a host of lifechanging improvements in health care and technology. While honouring science and the mind, our cultural tendency urges us to devalue belief and mystery, but the result is costly: They are left spiritually starved and out of balance.
    Some of life’s most difficult questions are the spiritual ones. What is the purpose of life? Where does real meaning come from? What is of real value in our lives? If there truly is a God who loves us, how could there be so much suffering and unfairness in the world? Part of our addiction to the busyness of life is an attempt to prevent ourselves from thinking about our mortality, the inevitable fact of our own death. But when we keep ourselves too busy to consider the purpose of our existence, our lives cease to have meaning. Strangely, it is only when we fully accept the reality of our mortality that we truly begin to live. This is the point at which we begin to enter into and learn about the spiritual dimension of our humanity. 

At this point, you might ask yourself several questions to help assess your own spirituality. Do i have a sense of connection with the Divine? Do i feel compassion for others? Do i feel awe and reverence? Do i live a life of trust? Am i called to service? Is prayer or meditation an important part of my life?    As French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin remarked, “We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a physical experience.” Our spirituality is our true essence. It is that part of our life which relates to our soul, which from a spiritual perspective is connected to the Divine and is infinite. This lifetime is but the physical experience of our deeper reality, our spirit, which is our fundamental nature. 

God can help manage your medication Spirituality helps older black American women with high blood pressure stick to the drug regimens that keep the condition under control, new research suggests. Older black Americans tend to have poorer anti-hypertensive medication adherence than either younger blacks or white patients, even though adherence helps reduce hypertension-related health problems and deaths, noted a team from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.    This study included 21 black women, average age 73, who were members of a Programme of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly. The women had been diagnosed with hypertension for an average of 16.7 years, and they were taking an average of 3.3 prescriptions to battle the condition. All the women said they used their spirituality to manage their medication adherence. As part of this process, identified as ‘Partnering with God to Manage My Medications,’ the women accepted personal responsibility for adhering to their medication regimen and used their spirituality as a resource to make decisions to remain adherent, to cope with medication side effects, and to increase their ability to deal with barriers that kept them from sticking with their medicines. It must now pass through all the necessary committees for final approval including the Senate and Governor of the State.

    by ALAN SHELTON

source: sunday times.