Your Emotional Guidance System – Introduction

One of the most important skills you can develop when leading from your higher self is the ability to navigate your emotions.   Emotional intelligence is a popular topic that has received a lot of attention in recent years. There are numerous series, courses, and training programs that aim to help individuals improve their emotional intelligence skills. While some of these resources can be helpful, it’s important to remember that emotions are simply a guidance system.

In reality, emotions are a natural and fundamental aspect of the human experience. They are not something that needs to be fixed or improved, but rather a valuable source of information that can guide us towards our goals and desires. When we learn to view emotions as a guidance system, we can tap into their power and use them to our advantage, by building confidence in our decisions and creating a more positive outlook on life.

Emotional Regulation vs Emotional Guidance System

Most of the conventional and very helpful wisdom about emotional intelligence is about how to regulate our emotions.  The difference between using emotions as a guidance system versus regulating them is that using emotions as a guidance system involves acknowledging and understanding the messages that our emotions are conveying to us while regulating emotions involves managing or suppressing the intensity of those emotions.

Emotions as a Guidance System

Using emotions as a guidance system involves recognizing that emotions are not just irrational feelings, but are actually valuable sources of information about ourselves and our environment. By paying attention to our emotions and identifying the specific situations, people, events or thoughts that trigger them, we can gain insight into our deepest desires, values, and needs.  Most valuably we gather information about how we are programmed.  This information can help guide us towards making better decisions and living a more fulfilling life or even making changes to our programming.

Regulating emotions

In contrast, regulating emotions involves managing or suppressing the intensity of our emotions. While there are certain situations where regulating emotions can be helpful, such as in situations where we need to maintain composure and professionalism, it can also be harmful when used to disguise or ignore the messages that our emotions are telling us. When we suppress our emotions, we may miss out on valuable information about ourselves and our environment, which can lead to confusion, disconnection, and even mental health problems.

Advantages of Using Our Emotional Guidance System

Using emotions as a guidance system has several advantages over regulating emotions. Firstly, it helps us to develop a deeper understanding of ourselves, which can lead to greater self-awareness and self-acceptance. Secondly, it can improve our communication and relationships with others, as we learn to recognize and respond to the emotions of others in a more empathetic and authentic way. Finally, it can lead to greater success and fulfilment in our personal and professional lives, as we learn to make decisions and take actions that are in alignment with our values and desires.

In conclusion, while regulating emotions can be helpful in certain situations, using emotions as a guidance system can provide numerous advantages in terms of personal and professional growth, communication, and overall fulfilment. By acknowledging and understanding the messages that our emotions are conveying to us, we can gain valuable insight into ourselves and our environment and make better decisions as a result.

Discovering the Emotional Guidance System

During my long career, I have through experience, self-reflection and investigation learned easy albeit unusual ways to use my emotions as the guidance system they are.  Emotions are a fundamental aspect of the human experience. They can provide us with a powerful guidance system, help us connect with others, and lead us to our deepest desires. However, emotions can also be confusing, and overwhelming, and lead us astray. In this series, we will explore six strategies that can help you navigate your emotions, connect with others, and live a more fulfilling life.

Leadership And the Emotional Guidance System

These 6 strategies are based on great wisdom and have been known and practised by our most influential leaders throughout history.  They are not the main reason that great leaders have been successful, but they have been a major and necessary factor.

The basis of some of the strategies may seem very different to how you have thought before, and you may have long-formed beliefs that make you sceptical or reject the information you are about to read.  But on a deep level, you know that there is at least some truth in what you are reading and why you need to know this information right now.

Our Instruction Manual

Unfortunately, as human beings, we aren’t born with an instruction manual about how to live successfully.  We learn through a series of taking in information, interpreting information, reacting and then getting results.  In other words, we learn as we go.

You know the saying that “the benefit of hindsight is a wonderful thing”.  Well, that’s because once we have experienced the results of our interpretation and reaction, we quite often would do things differently!

And so, it is with emotional intelligence.  There is no easy quick fix because we often must learn through trial and error.

However, once you master your emotional guidance system, making choices is easier and understanding the results of your choices is easier.

We Are All at Different Stages

You may already practice some of the strategies in this series.  Alternatively, some of the concepts may be totally new to you.  Whatever your experience so far, I hope you take something valuable away with you.  Learning the 6 strategies may help you immediately and bring instant revelation.   For some of you, it may take some time for the meaning and significance of the strategies to filter into your awareness and experience.

For some, you may simply not accept the ideas within the strategies.  If this is the case, then please ask yourself what seems like an irrelevant question, but which has great significance.  The question is: “Would you rather be right, or happy?”  Too often we choose to maintain our beliefs and thinking patterns and therefore our emotional state because we prefer to “be right”, even if the very beliefs and thoughts we are maintaining are making us downright unhappy.

Wherever you are in your understanding of emotional intelligence, remember it is where you are meant to be.  There is no right or wrong way to be, there is only where you are right now, with a willingness to learn, and that is fine.

How This Series Can Help You

The 6 strategies I reveal can help you in several ways.  Firstly, they can aid and help develop your own emotional intelligence.  If you are like me, you are committed to life-long learning which not only means increasing your knowledge and skill base but also means personal growth.

You can use the strategies to help you lead and manage your teams.  The strategies lead to a greater understanding and acceptance of how people tick.   This is very valuable information and can help you in the many situations you find yourself involved, in relation to managing your team.

Finally, the strategies can help you build better relationships both at home and in the workplace.  Practising the strategies will help you form more positive relationships both by giving you some strategies for how you relate personally and also by understanding how others relate.

How To Use This Series

There is a logical sequence to the concepts in this series and one idea builds on another.  It is best to read through the strategies and absorb the information as it is presented.  However, if a particular strategy grabs you, and your instinct is to start there, then go for it!  There is no right or wrong way to learn from the information in this series.

Next:  Part One – Emotions are a Guidance System