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Why do people choose to develop emotional intelligence and why do they turn to Six Seconds for their path? In “Voices from Six Seconds Network,” we introduce you to people in the network who share their experiences, personal journeys, and how they embrace EQ in different areas of their daily lives.

Voices from the Network: Liliana Rodríguez

by Maddalena Campitelli

“It’s what moves me, day after day, to know that I can help someone in some way, even if it’s something small.” – Liliana Rodríguez

This month we’re sharing the story of Liliana Rodríguez, an emotional intelligence consultant and coach based in Monterrey, Mexico. A cherished member of the Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Network, Liliana is a POP-UP Festival mentor, Network Leader and Network Leader Coordinator in Latin America. (Network Leaders are volunteers all over the world who host EQ Cafes – interactive, cost-free learning workshops on emotional intelligence, which she’s also hosted.)

Enjoy!

Liliana’s path to emotional intelligence

As a highly sensitive person, Liliana says she’s always been fascinated by emotions. She first encountered emotional intelligence as a concept while studying for her Masters’ degree in Education many years ago, and as soon as she came across Six Seconds, she reached out to ask how she could help. Soon after, she started as a volunteer.

She says learning about emotional intelligence has helped her both personally and professionally, and credits EQ with helping her improve specifically as a parent. More patient and aware of her own feelings and reactions, she’s able to give her kids more opportunities to be aware of their own feelings and connect with them. That has helped them develop a special relationship.

And Liliana has taken her gift for teaching emotional intelligence to children and adults outside her home as well.

Growing healthy communities with EQ

“My Noble Goal,” Liliana says, “is to serve others. When I know I can help others, I feel at ease.” With Six Seconds and emotional intelligence she found the perfect tools to help others grow and develop in meaningful ways.

She’s hosted POP-UP Festivals – community events with free, playful, meaningful activities to help kids grow their emotional intelligence – and other EQ workshops for elementary aged school children. She’s used emotional intelligence assessments like the Brain Brief profile, the Brain Talent profile and the Brain Discovery profile to help teenagers struggling with anxiety and depression. Just like with her own kids, Liliana sees immense value in teaching these skills at a young age. “Teaching emotional intelligence to kids is so important because if you teach them how to better understand their feelings at a young age, they have the tools and skills to help grow up in a healthy environment. And if they do, they’ll be better equipped as adults.”

But Liliana also loves working with adults and has volunteered with people of all ages. She’s hosted monthly EQ Cafes as part of a program supporting people struggling with addictions, with a Network Leader in her region who runs a clinic. “It’s a beautiful experience to witness how much people learn and grow,” she says. “Many of the patients are struggling with relationships and other problems related to addiction, and it’s an honor for me to be able to give them information and skills that can help them.”

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Meet Liliana Rodríguez Website→ + LinkedIn→ + Instagram→

Professional achievements: As a professional committed to the transmission of knowledge and the growth of Emotional Intelligence, as well as the prevention of personal and group anxiety symptoms, in educational and work environments, Liliana focuses on wellness and innovation, through different tools and activities. In addition, Liliana seeks to support changes for emotional and integral well-being, through programs and experiences, making use of different techniques and creativity, using different resources, such as origami. She also has extensive experience in translating texts from English to Spanish and Spanish to English (articles, books, manuals, etc.), as well as contributions in simultaneous translations for virtual events.

Favorite Six Seconds Learning Philosophy: “Wisdom lives within”
She says: “This principle of learning is what suits me right now, because I love learning new things and helping others in their reflections. I am curious about the things around me, I like to ask questions, investigate and learn together and from others.”

Learn about Six Seconds Learning Philosophies →

Noble Goal: “One of my favorite things is to serve others”

Learn about Six Seconds Noble Goals →

Her “Don’t Miss This” Six Seconds tools & courses:
Certifications: EQ Assessor Cert, EQ Practitioner Cert, Brain Brief Profiler Cert | Look into Six Seconds Certifications
Tools: Brain Brief Profile Set, SEI Leadership, SEI 360
Other: EQ Cafés, EQ Coaches webinars, EQ Parents, Education

Healing herself with genuine connections

After finding EQ, Liliana realized that something was missing in her life: self-confidence.
She has always been very introverted and suffered from bullying as a child. Being the youngest in a large family, 10 years apart from her older siblings, made her feel isolated: “It was almost like being an only child,” she says. This feeling of loneliness she carried inside turned into a sense of insecurity and vulnerability.

But she feels she has grown a lot because of EQ.
Emotional intelligence helped her see vulnerability not necessarily as a weakness or a bad thing, because she realized that emotions are a source of wisdom that can help her understand what is important – even uncomfortable emotions. In fact, one of our core beliefs at Six Seconds is that there are no “good” (positive) or “bad” (negative) emotions! Emotions differ in intensity and they are data that provide us with information about how we feel and thus signals about threats and opportunities. <Have a look at the Feeling Chart list ‘Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions’ for the purpose of dozens of emotions>. What helped her the most was the change of mindset. Through Six Seconds tools and models, she applied the “Know Thyself” principle to be more aware of her own well-being as well and she discovered that her Noble Goal is to support others. And that ‘s what she does everyday through both her job and many volunteer activities, which are so important to her that sometimes she ends up sacrificing her work for it.

Another aspect Six Seconds helped her improve is definitely Relationship.
Again because of her childhood experience, relationships have always been a personal challenge for Liliana, who has struggled to be able to open freely to others and build meaningful bonds. Since she joined Six Seconds she met many people, she made really good friends and she built a deep connection with someone within the network who sadly passed away a year ago. They had built a strong relationship because they worked a lot together and they became closer especially during the pandemic – for this reason Liliana suffered their loss immensely. Eventually, through the network Liliana met new people she felt she could easily connect with, and this helped her incredibly in terms of improving her interpersonal skills – she used to be quite individualistic, especially in her job, but she has learned to enjoy collaborating with others and sharing ideas.

Now she feels very curious and excited about new encounters and she thinks she can learn a lot from other individuals coming from different backgrounds and experiences. On this matter she concludes: “All the relationships I’ve built until today enriched me, shaped who I am now, and improved the confidence in myself!”.

Thank you Liliana for sharing your EQ journey with us!

If you would like to share your story and be featured in future newsletters please email [email protected]

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