by Levi Bradley

Created on: May 21, 2008

Self-reflection is not an easy thing. It requires being honest with yourself, brutally honest. It means you have to try to put yourself on a scale, as in a beauty scale of 1 to 10, only including everything about yourself. I read once that the definition of emotional intelligence is understanding your own place accurately. Some people think they are really funny, for example, but nobody laughs. Some people think they aren't very smart, but everyone around them knows they are. These would be examples of low emotional intelligence.

I think I have a realistic knowledge of my place. I'm about an 8.5. I'm no male model, but I don't get sick when I look in the mirror. People don't get sick around me when they look at me. I don't notice if people stare at me because I don't stare at anyone long enough to see if they're staring at me.

I'm a pretty nice person. I help people. I've gotten out and pumped gas for elderly men and women who were struggling to do so. I've picked up things for people when they dropped them. I've even pointed it out to people when I saw them drop money. I give people rides. I help people move when they need help. I spend more on people for gifts than they usually spend on me. Does this meet the criteria? How about what I don't do? I don't use vulgar language. I don't smoke or drink. I try not to hurt people's feelings, so I don't say mean things, which means sometimes, I'm probably not completely honest. I never lie to protect myself, only to spare others' feelings. I don't ignore people when they talk to me. I try to listen and I understand that sometimes, people just need someone to listen. I don't get angry if someone is late, and I don't leave them for being late. I don't expect too much from people. I think I used to, but then I was always disappointed because my expectations were always greater than most people wanted to offer. I'm much easier going and laid back now.

I know everything about me is not good, though. I don't like to repeat myself. I can't stand people who speak authoritatively about things they don't know anything about, like Hollywood stars who talk about politics. I really should exercise more. I'm not very outgoing and don't do well talking first. I don't think I appear very friendly, even though I think I am as long as people talk to me first. Sometimes I can be impatient, but very seldom get angry. It usually takes a lot to get me angry, like repeated events of some kind, but if someone makes the effort to get me mad,

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