January means a new month, a new year, a new decade. Wow, what a lot of new! It also means a new emotional intelligence strategy to work on. This is the final month of my focus on Self Awareness, and I have to say, this strategy, I’ve really been feeling ever since I started on this EQ journey back in August.

Now, TalentSmart says that to “Feel Your Emotions Physically,” “Observe your physical reactions to your feelings as a situation or feeling unfolds. Notice temperature, sensations, intensity, location, speed, and how long they last.”

Like I said, I have actually been working on this one since August. Going on this emotional intelligence journey, I have really been in tune with my emotions, and how they affect not only me, but also my relationships with others. I mentioned in an earlier post last fall (how is it last fall already? Time sure does fly as we get older!), that I had been feeling restless for a while, and could not place what the restless feeling was about. When I sat down and really leaned into the emotion, I realized that it was because there were several things outside of my control that were getting to me. Since then, when I’ve felt the restlessness come back, I have taken some time to reflect on what was going on that I could not control. I’ve been able to notice it almost immediately and the feeling of unease that comes with the restlessness disappears as I come up with a plan to remove my lack of control.

Yes, there are still a lot of things that are outside of my control, but I have solutions for managing them. This month’s challenge will be to really embrace these feelings, whether they be positive or negative, and do some soul searching and deep diving to uncover the reason for them. It is not fun to be out of sorts, and the physical reactions are not something you would expect. I never thought that my restlessness was due to a lack of control. I initially thought it was because I was stuck inside for a while; nope, the answer was not that simple.

So, keep an eye out for an update later this month as I note what some of my new physical reactions to my emotions are. I can’t wait to see how I grow this month!