Human Relations in Nursing Evaluation

They say change is always a good thing but I wonder if that’s really true. Is change always good or is that a statement we make just to make ourselves feel good about the change?

In the past years my life has been through a huge rollercoaster ride on both a interpersonal and intrapersonal level and it all involved change. Changes that made me happy at times and most of them that made me sad, cry or wonder why all this is really happening to me. Adjusting to the change has not been very easy for me and most of the time has been a very emotional experience which most of the times leaves me feeling alone because nobody can understand the emotional turmoil that I go through dealing with it.

Do you like changes in your life? Whether we embrace change or resist it, the fact is, change happens.

Some changes are natural, like walking, talking, the first day of school. We celebrate these changes with pictures, announcements, scrapping notes on a journal so as to remember that on that day, a change had happened. We call our friends and chat about our new agenda, or we got a new job. These changes are positive. They give us a sense of joy.

What about celebrating the changes that we aren’t that thrilled about, that don’t give us the warm fuzzies inside? These are the losses in our lives. The changes that we don’t expect. The events that make us reach down deep to find the strength to get through them. The changes, that once we accept them, we can see that they had to happen, to bring us to the place where we are in life today.

What about celebrating the in between times, when we are anticipating change, but they aren’t happening quickly enough, or according to our time table? We wait to get a call for an interview from the hospital where we submitted our resume into. We wait to hear about the test results. We wait for word on a contract. We wait, we wait, we wait. We might feel like our lives are in limbo. If we celebrate waiting on these opportunities, we can be happier in the moment, and not so attached to the outcome.

These are what I have firmly seen while taking the human relations class. At first, it was just like I have to take the subject just to fill in the units in my master’s degree. I never really thought of it as relevant as it is to me now. This class is just one of the things or medium that brought changes into my life. And the professor whom I thought would be so hard to deal with because of the impression marked in me that she can be lenient, turned out to be one of the most inspiring person I have met. She talks ardently about life and her experiences. I so love the subject because it talks about life, and me as a lover of life would greatly be fond of it. Celebrating the changes that aren’t joyous, and perhaps aren’t happening according to when we want them, open us up to being more positive and accepting to the ups and downs of life. It might take years to adjust to some life changes, in order to reach a point of celebration. But the times of joy do come. In hindsight we can see that the bad events also happen for our ultimate good.

I have seen the bad events in my life turn around and become things I celebrate almost daily. I celebrate having some fears and doubts today. Years ago, I would have scoffed at the idea. Today, I fully understand that my losses has a positive purpose in my life. To teach, to show mercy, to inspire, to challenge others. I don’t celebrate “disability” — I celebrate ability. I recognize ability in myself and in all people.

Now my life is going to go through a bigger change, probably the most significant change in my life…. commitments.. a shift… job… everything that was constant in my life is now going to change some of which i am really happy about, some of which i hope i wouldn’t have to go through and some which just make me wonder if I am making the right tradeoff and I have battled with myself enough and there is no right answer. When there is a change there is a reason and most of the time there is always an option and it’s really up to you to choose what you want or sometimes circumstances choose it for you. Thus I learned that if it’s a change you choose don’t complain and if not just deal with it.

We all have events and issues in our lives that are not typically things we want to celebrate. But these events are also part of the fabric of who we are, and the fact that we have moved through them, deserves celebration. We are more fully ourselves, and stronger because of these events.

So basically, my whole insight is that life is all about changes. Whether you like it or not, it would bound to happen. Whether you want it or not, it would still bound to happen.

Instead of complaining about it, it is more advisable to focus your energy to learn more about the changes and get the best out of it. It is true that when these changes take place, it wont be easy to withstand all that comes but with persistent and determination, one would be able to tackle these changes and actually become stronger.

If you are facing changes now, have no fear. Embrace it and you will grow for the better!

Emotional Intelligence

This got to be one of my favorite topic- Emotional Intelligence. My Emotional Intelligence is my level of awareness of my emotional state of being. Emotional Intelligence is a measure of my ability to be Emotional with conscious-awareness. Being Emotional is consciously knowing, seeing and/or feeling my own personal energetic state of being. Being Emotional is not being emotionally reactive. Reacting in a negative emotional state i.e. anger, frustration, intolerance, is a sign of non-awareness, ignorance and an absence of emotional intelligence.

We react with a low level of emotional intelligence and we are able to respond positively with a high level of emotional intelligence.

For me, emotional Intelligence is knowing my own exclusive level of Self-Confidence to make my own choices with authority; feeling my own unique level of Self-Worth that gives me the power to fulfill my own choices; seeing my own individual level of Self-Esteem that results from having the special ability to connect to my own unique power and exclusive authority.

Recently, I have just learned that there is a direct correlation between emotional intelligence and sexual gratification in women. It was said that Emotional Intelligence seems to have a direct impact on women’s sexual functioning by influencing her ability to communicate her sexual expectations and desires to her partner. I can see that if one has a high EQ, he becomes an achiever in many things.

If I were to tell you that there’s one thing you can do for yourself that will put you miles ahead of the masses, in terms of your professional and personal success, would you want to know what it is? I bet you would, and who wouldn’t? Truth be told, the #1 predictor of personal excellence and overall achievement in life is E.I., and I’m not talking about Employment Insurance. E.I. stands for Emotional Intelligence.

In all honesty when I first heard of emotional intelligence I thought it was all “fluff”, but the more I read, the more I discovered it was anything but “fluff”. Furthermore, unlike our I.Q. and personality, which are primarily fixed, emotional intelligence is not. Emotional intelligence is flexible. We can actually change our emotional intelligence, and there’s plenty of reasons to do so.

A common misconception is that EQ refers to being “touchy feely” and “kissing butt”, and a lot of people are repulsed by these thoughts. However, EQ is really your ability to recognize and understand emotions in yourself and others. It also includes your ability to manage your behavior, and relationships. There are really four main skills that make up Emotional Intelligence. The first two, self-awareness and self management are more about you. This makes good sense if you think about it. After all, if you can’t manage yourself and your own feelings and reactions, it’s pretty hard to do so for others. The latter two skills involved in Emotional Intelligence are social awareness, and relationship management. These skills deal primarily with your ability to relate to and understand others. Once again if you’ve ever worked for a tyrannical boss, or somebody who is just plain old hard to get along with, you know what I’m talking about.

The old saying, “It’s not what you know but who you know that counts”, has been around for years. But is there any truth to that statement? Absolutely! Life is all about relationships, and relationships are all about emotional intelligence. Look at it this way. If you were the boss and had to pick people to work for you, would you select people who are difficult to work with, or that you don’t like or get along with – of course you wouldn’t because you’re  human. And it’s our emotions that make us human. No matter how much we like to think that we are rational beings, we are driven by our emotions, and countless studies back this up.

Rest assured that “kissing butt” has nothing to do with emotional intelligence, and emotional intelligence has everything to do with your success. EI is so critical to success that it accounts for 58 per cent of performance in all types of jobs.

Do yourself a favor and pick up one of dozens of excellent books that have been written on EI. With a bit of reading and a little practice, people will be wondering  how you became so successful. Unfortunately for them, they’ll think it has everything to do with your IQ, but you’ll know better!