Emotional Empowerment in School Children By Dr. Soni Kewalramani and Prof. Mukta Rani Rastogi Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all. These words were spoken by Aristotle and these define what true education is. Education in its best form is more than science, history and mathematics. It is more than cognitive learning. This was recognized by Aristotle but Indian school system still needs to get up and take notice of it. Total empowerment of the child becomes the goal of any educational institute in this scenario. One aspect of Empowerment which has been neglected since long in the education domain has been that of emotions. What is Emotional Empowerment? Emotional Empowerment means being aware of and feeling powerful over your own emotional state. It means staying centered and grounded, regardless of what is happening around you and outside of you. Emotionally empowered persons know who they are, what they are feeling in any given moment, and where those feelings are coming from. This allows them to be comfortable and secure in their world. Emotional Empowerment and Emotional Intelligence Emotional Empowerment begins with emotional awareness. The positive and negative emotions that we experience in our lives are not only known but also accepted. This acceptance becomes very important. Accepting one’s negative emotions means that the individual is not getting disturbed by them. It is not interfering with day –to-day activities and the individual is able to tolerate them. This is Emotional Tolerance which is the index of emotional maturity. Emotional tolerance through acceptance of emotions results in better psychological health as it increases emotional management. When we are in a balanced state in the present and manage problems of the future the result is a balanced emotional state which increases personal strength. This is Emotional Empowerment. Indian Psychology also talks about equanimity of mind. It says emotional neutrality is the state of balance. Getting disturbed neither by ‘Raag’ nor by ‘Dwesh’ is the key to emotional balance. Gita talks about it in detail where it discuss es the personality types based on Sattva, Rajas and Tamas guna in an individual. Talking about emotional intelligence, we can say through emotional intelligence we move towards emotional empowerment. Emotional awareness and emotional management are the two important components of emotional intelligence. When emotional tolerance, which is very important element, is added to it Emotional Empowerment is achieved. In a way, Emotional Empowerment is also emotional intelligence, for we cannot be empowered by something that we do not understand. To know our emotions and our reactions to people, places and situations, we must know ourselves. Mayer and Salovey (1997) defines Emotional Intelligence as the ability to perceive, appraise and express emotions accurately; the ability to access and generate feelings to facilitate cognitive activities; the ability to understand emotion-relevant concepts and use emotion relevant language; and the ability to manage one’s own emotions and the emotions of others to promote growth, well being and functional social relations. It’s been around!