I didn't know there was so much science behind emotional intelligence (EI). That with intentional practice of mindfulness and meditation techniques we can alter the brain structure. The many benefits of having high EI was very surprising, leading to happiness, higher work performance and leadership ability. It was very interesting to learn that it doesn't take tremendous amounts of time living on a remote mountain meditating for years to achieve better understanding and control of one's emotions. In fact, this course will take only 7 weeks so I'm keen to see what's going to happen in upcoming weeks and what new techniques and wisdom I will learn.
I always thought it would be much more complicated to practice mindfulness, that I'd have to follow strict techniques and take a long time. However it was really simple to practice mindfulness. I laid down and switched between focusing on my breathing and just thinking about nothing. Even though it was only for two short minutes I found that I became more aware of my surroundings than usual. I could hear the traffic outside, the clinks of objects, the sound of my breathing, things that otherwise I wouldn't have paid attention to. Also the two minutes felt like a very long time when I was focusing all the attention on just one thing rather not jumping through a million ideas in your head.