Activate!
Lesson Overview
In the previous chapter, you discussed mindset as a part of self-regulation. This week’s focus is social awareness, which means understanding others or empathy.
In this lesson, you will:
- learn what empathy is and why it is the basis for successful communication;
- practice empathy-related vocabulary
- practice recognizing definitions, examples, and statistics;
- and practice using supporting details in writing.
Reflection: Emotional Reactions
Do you sometimes feel like emotions are coming over you and you can’t control them? If we don’t know how to deal with emotions constructively, we can harm ourselves and our relationships. Answer the reflective question below to assess how constructive is your approach in dealing with emotions.
Vocabulary: Emotions
How can we control our emotions? And what benefits does this skill bring us? This week’s article will introduce the concept of emotional agility and explain the process behind it.
Vocabulary
7 min
Here are some words that will help you better understand today’s article. Click on the card to enlarge and follow the arrows to slide through other cards. Complete the activity below if you want to practice these words.
Reflection: Getting Hooked
Psychologist Susan David explains that to practice emotional agility, you first need to understand that you are getting hooked on negative thoughts. In other words, you slip back to thinking unconstructively. In her book called Emotional Agility, Susan Davide provides an example of herself thinking about her daughter.
Reflection
3 min
Take a look at the infographic and read it. Click on the image to enlarge. Then, complete the form below with your answers. You can also use the Reflective Diary from your workbook to complete this task.
Lesson Wrap-up
In this lesson, you have discussed the importance of emotions and why they evolved. Humans have emotions because they used to serve as impulses to act valuable for our survival. This lesson is the first in a series of lessons on emotional intelligence. Review the vocabulary from today’s lesson:
- agile
- rigid
- trigger
- underlying
- dwell on
- align with
- investigate
- consciously
- constructively
- empower
The next part of the lesson Build! will focus on how emotional intelligence can be important in a professional context. Before completing this part, visit Language Focus and study its content.