Emotional Literacy – ElPropósito3 min de lectura

How and where to focus the growth of our awareness

Photo by Tengyart on Unsplash

Self-management starts with a constant awareness of where we stand, at any moment, in relation to what’s happening around us. Then come the habits, attitudes and decisions that, well directed, keep our wellbeing in balance. The first big step is knowing how much we actually understand about emotions. Here’s where emotional literacy begins.

Daniel Goleman describes a triad of awareness built on focus on "ourselves, others and the wider world". Keeping our attention on all three and balancing them in the middle of daily life is a real challenge, and the payoff is enormous. We’re taught little or nothing about noticing our own emotions, other people’s emotions and how we interact with the world as a whole.

Widening our awareness of the world, of our impact on it and of how different systems connect (within a market, an industry or a country, for example) is how we build "strategic vision", a core element of leadership. Engaging emotionally with someone else’s reality builds empathy, another mark of natural leaders. Last on the list but first in order, we need the kind of vision that lets us observe ourselves, so we know how to react, or how to change our reaction, in a given situation.

Crises call for far more awareness than we’re used to. We all react differently to joy or danger, and we each have many ways of handling what comes. One of the great opportunities the COVID-19 crisis leaves us is the chance to strengthen our self-management.

Starting with ourselves, with who we are, we can move toward what the world is asking of us: all our potential and talent in the service of others to meet the big challenges. The next big step is recognizing the power of relationships and working on whatever helps us cultivate and attract the ones that make us better people. Finally, a deep understanding of how we act and the impact it has is the key to seeing the many connections around us and how to strengthen them, preserve them and leave a legacy.

Warm regards and all the best,

Rodrigo Baccaro

P.S. This week’s VELA:

• What I’ve been Viewing: Moneyball. This movie was a special find these past few days. Just as I’m sure many books are still waiting for me, the same was true of this film. What stood out: the power of a vision, commitment to a goal and standing by your decisions with an entire industry against you.
• What I’ve been Listening to: On the Shortness of Life (Seneca). This YouTube channel is wonderful and full of great audiobooks. This time I listened to this great book. Chapter VII on the art of living stood out, especially what it says about managing time.
• What I’ve been Reading: Estados Unidos: La historia. Still on last week’s book, and taking time to dig into each historical note has paid off. This book has given me a new reading goal: finding authors for each country. History has always been one of my passions, and reading like this makes it grow.
• What I’ve been Learning: How do solar panels work. I’m still curious about solar energy and how the industry has evolved. This is a wonderful TED talk for anyone who wants to keep learning, and I invite you to watch it.

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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