Emotional intelligence

A key foundation for naturopathic health is emotional stability, or emotional intelligence. We need to build a skill set to deal with our emotions.

I highly regard mental health professionals and know they are needed in our healthcare system. Having said that, just in my clinical experience, I would say at least half of the clients that work with me have not had a positive outcome from therapy.

I like to ask “How did your treatment plan go?”  I find that, in general, these practices don’t give clients a lot of homework for self care, things they can practice to help them change their mindset.

They’re not getting everything they need for emotional stability in just a one hour session a few times a month. We have too much subconscious programming. We are going to be stuck in certain modes in our mind and one hour a couple of times a month is just not going to break you free from that.

What Works

What I have seen work really well with some isn’t therapy, it’s a daily ritual where you are re-programming your mind, your subconscious. You’re reprogramming it to act more appropriately, and it’s a skill set you have to build. It’s called Emotional Intelligence. 

What does it mean to build emotional intelligence? If something’s toxic in your environment, you need to do what you can to remove what’s toxic. This includes working on relationships that are unhealthy. Get help and make a plan.

What does poor emotional intelligence look like? One sign that you may need to work on improving this is if you’re easily triggered. If someone says something and you get mad, for example, and you get stuck in that anger response, that’s a sign that you don’t have the control you want over your emotions.

This is extremely important and a very foundational thing in health and in life. If you want to get better health outcomes, especially reduce migraines, anxiety, depression, gut problems, and autoimmune issues – we’ve got to work on emotional stability.

One of my favorite tools of all time is a book by Don Miguel Ruiz. He wrote The Four Agreements. It’s the single number one tool I’ve found in all my years of practice to improve emotional intelligence. And it’s a quick read. I’ve practiced the four agreements every single day for at least three years now. This has changed my life. And they’re so simple yet so profound. He has a way of helping us reprogram our thinking and look at life from a different perspective.

Let’s work together on emotional intelligence! Checkout The Four Agreements and let me know what you think!