The One Skill That Will Magically Improve Your Self-Awareness, Emotional Intelligence and Decision-Making

Interoception is the ability to notice, read, and understand bodily sensations. Research shows that interoception is a key skill that helps create acute self-awareness, enhanced decision-making abilities, and the ability to understand and interpret our emotions.

Igor Grossmann’s research on evidence-based wisdom has shown that the highest performers on his wise reasoning tests display higher interoceptive ability.  People with high interoception make more winning choices in gambling tasks in laboratory settings and make more rational decisions. People with high interoceptive ability make better investment decisions.

Here are some means to increase your interoceptive ability:

1. Practice mindfulness meditation regularly.

2. Pay attention to the bodily sensations, especially the sensations from bodily organs such as the heart, stomach, intestines, throat, etc. Check if you can sense the activity of these and other internal organs.

3. Playing musical instruments increases interoception, as it requires a keen awareness of sensory feedback from the fingers. Similarly, dancing improves interoception, where movement is guided by sensations.

4. Google the ‘wheel of emotions’ and try to distinguish between different emotions. Can you tell whether you are feeling serenity, joy, or ecstasy whenever you feel elated?

5. Dr. Paul Ekman has done pioneering research on emotional expressions. His website and books describe the fine-grained distinction between various emotions and their expressions. You can check out his website and explore the pictures of different expressions.

6. You can also practice mimicking these various expressions in front of a mirror.

7. Deep breathing through the nose improves interoception. Practice deep breathing at a rate of 4-6 breaths per minute. A rate of 6 per minute is beneficial for HRV (heart rate variability). HRV is an indicator of a good vagal tone, which is an indicator of calmness. Buddhist monks are known to breathe at a rate of 3-4 breaths per minute.

8. This comes from the field of ‘Somatic Experiencing,’ an emerging field in which the body’s intelligence is used to treat traumas, enable personal growth, and even foster leadership abilities. The core of this practice is to pay attention to the body and its sensations even while you are working, driving, conversing, and indulging in any activity. You become fully present with an awareness of both your internal world and the external world. Anything you do, do it with keen awareness. Christine Caldwell, founder of a Somatic counselling program, recommends pretend play with children and pets to improve somatic intelligence.