“Use your words” …I don’t know about you but I said this a lot (still do sometimes) when my kids were just learning to talk and would sometimes revert to just noises or making faces.

Self Expression is how we let the world know what is going on inside of us and what we think…when done well it often is verbal, but also includes body language, facial expression, tone of voice etc. As we become more Emotionally Intelligent we not only need to be aware of our own emotions and those of others we need to be able to express our emotions.

Using the EQ-i2.0 model as a reference Self Expression has three parts:

1) Emotional Expression – expressing feelings verbally and non-verbally

2) Assertiveness – communicating and defending rights & values appropriately

3) Independence – being self-directed and not dependent up on the emotions of others

As we move down the road of life together when we are skilled in self expression we let the other “drivers” know what we are doing so we can all drive more productively together…make sure your emotional blinkers and break lights are working and you will go farther faster!