PERSONAL SPECIAL ....What is Positive Intelligence?

What is Positive Intelligence?

Intelligence is of no use unless you learn to cultivate your own sense of well-being and optimism, a.k.a. PQ, say experts

We like to believe we are an intelligent lot. Evolution has ensured we come this far. We take pride in our IQ, and it's a quality we aspire for ourselves, and want our children to aspire to.But somewhere, something very vital has gone amiss. Because all that we have -Ivy League degrees, material wealth, instant gratification of all desires -hasn't made us happy or wise.In fact, we are more fractured than ever, and grappling with everyday anxiety and misery. IQ isn't the answer to everything, we've been told decades before, when we were introduced to the concept of EQ (Emotional Quotient). Experts said EQ was as important as our Intelligence Quotient for us to become wholesome individuals. Now, the whole world is talking about PQ, a.k.a., Positive Intelligence Quotient.

WHAT IS PQ?

Shirzad Chamine, the former chairman of CTI (Coaches Training Institute), the largest coach-training organisation in the world, and founder and CEO at Positive Intelligence Inc., coined this term. In his New York Times bestseller Positive Intelligence, Chamine explains: “Your mind is your best friend, but it is also your worst enemy. Your Positive Intelligence Quotient is the percentage of time your mind is serving you as opposed to sabotaging you.Your PQ indicates how much mastery you have over your own mind.“

Perhaps, it's the most im portant life skill that we have left behind in our quest to achieve and conquer, and call it success. How does one go about acquiring PQ?
Life coach Sarah Alexander says, “Positive Intelligence is our focus and action on the positive. What we focus our minds upon has the power to enhance our mental well-being (or destroy it).“ The keyword here is `action' m o r e than `fo cus', be cause action differ entiates positive thinking from Positive Intelligence. Alexander adds that positive intelli gence can only be an acquired skill.

Why? “Our brains are hard wired for negativity; this goes back to our Stone Age ancestors, who needed to be cau tious all the time from attack. Attack from dangerous animals, imminent bad weather or threats from other tribes,“ she says.

This negativity bias has remained with us and we naturally default to a negative focus, scanning for prob lems, and often, over-reacting when they occur.

Harvard Business Review said re cently that training your brain to be positive is not so different from train ing your muscles at the gym. Engag ing in one brief positive exercise every day, for as little as three weeks, can have a lasting impact. Without micro-moments of positivity on a daily basis, you'd still be grappling with the world no matter how intelli gent you are. Barbara Fredrickson, a psychol ogist at the University of North Carolina, has done research on foster ing positive emotions. In particular, her theory says well-be ing is a life skill that you must ac quire and accumulate. “If you prac tise, you get better at it,“ she says.

There are many popular practices such as gratitude affirmations or meditation that create lasting shifts in thought patterns. Also, acquiring PQ doesn't mean one must always be positive and happy. Even the most upbeat people have their `down' moments. And learning to accept that as well as enhance your thought process is the core of acquiring PQ.

According to Chamine, the first step to acquiring PQ is to increase empathy for yourself and others. Second, develop your creative mind and give yourself the chance to explore and innovate. Thirdly, make decisions based on your core values, and then act. Finally, train your brain to look for the positive, by recording five positive things that happen each day.

Nona Walia TOI 8OCT17