Joie De Vivre Education

Beyond Emotional Intelligence Workshop (In association with KFI Kolkata)

Beyond the pleasures and pains of partial successes and failures towards our undivided potential as human beings

In the last couple of decades or so, we have come to realize that intelligence as measured by IQ and tests does not produce happy or “successful” human beings. We have come to realize that emotional maturity as determined by Emotional Intelligence is an important determinant of an individual’s state of existence. Yet, even with this intelligence, we find that our lives are as fragmented as ever. We find ourselves stuck in the rut of daily living with the increased pressures of modern life that affect our personal relationships and also our professional careers. We have made use of knowledge, technology and specialization as solutions but the problems of everyday living seem as convoluted as ever.

Is there an intelligence that goes beyond the sensation and sentimentality of emotion? Is there an intelligence that can help us look at the problems of our life not as specialists but as total and non fragmented human beings ?

Is this workshop relevant for me?

As working professionals, as students or even as individuals grappling with the conflicts of daily living, we have all sometime or the other wondered about the chasm between our lives and our livelihood; between ‘what must be done’ and ‘what ought to be done’, between our ‘analytical reasoning’ leading us one way and our ‘emotional self’ leading the other way; between the ‘freedom to do whatever we choose to do’ and an experience of ‘compulsion’ in dealing with ‘worldly and practical matters’; and between our knowledge of success and happiness and our experience of it. We have all, quite often, found ourselves bounded by duties, ‘practical wisdom’ and specialized knowledge of experts

We may have the intelligence quotient to deal with complex mathematical and scientific theories and we may have the emotional wherewithal to navigate the complex maze of personal and professional relationships and yet we find our fleeting successes and failures to be unsatisfactory. We find ourselves constantly torn between hard choices and tough decisions to be made but are unable to know how to make them. This workshop is for all of us, who find ourselves in a state of conflict; who wonder if specialization in particular fields or careers and expert opinions will ever lead to harmony both within us and in the world we live in. This workshop is for all of us who have at one point in time or the other felt a sense of frustration at not being able to tap our undivided human potential

This interactive workshop is intended to be a stepping stone and set the wheels of understanding and exploration in motion. This workshop is not intended to be pedantic

The two day sessions will involve:

• Sharing circle based interpersonal interactions
• Games and activities dealing with life issues
• Screening of short films and clips from across the globe dealing with relevant issues and discussions about the sa
• Interaction of Krishnaji (Jiddu Krishnamurti) with Fritjof Kapra and others where discussions relevant to the topic take place
• Shared perspectives on intelligence in action in our day to day lives

It is intended that each participant take whatever they feel as relevant from the workshop and find their own unique way of going beyond emotional intelligence. The interactive workshop is thus a means to provide the participants a small but necessary thrust in the awakening of an all encompassing intelligence

KFI Kolkata has also organized a talk with Professor Bhagirath Behera who is an Associate Professor of Economics, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur. He will be interacting with the participants of the workshop