Emotional Intelligence Awareness Month

Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, understand, and manage emotions, in ourselves and in others. The Emotional Intelligence Institute, a nonprofit organization, originated the Emotional Intelligence Awareness Month campaign in 2006 and has been orchestrating it every October since, providing free campaign materials so that anyone can take part. The month is an international campaign effort directed at helping people learn more about the many wonders of the mind and improve their emotional intelligence, one insight at a time.

The Institute itself grew out of one woman’s search for understanding. Sandra Hughes McDevitt founded the Emotional Intelligence Institute in 2001, after spending over a decade of independent, intense study to better understand healthy mind development. She started the nonprofit knowing that such knowledge would greatly help reduce people’s frustrations when dealing with the complexities of their own minds. Before her years of study, she had a successful business in the computer industry, creating unique training tools for novices that enabled them to quickly learn how to use complex software. She brought the same teacher’s heart to the mind itself, and she has written more than 200 pages of emotional intelligence lesson materials that are shared on the Institute’s website for free.

The idea of emotional intelligence gained significant academic and popular attention in the 1990s, driven in part by the 1995 publication of Daniel Goleman’s landmark book on the subject. His work helped create fertile ground for dedicated awareness campaigns, moving the understanding of emotions from the margins of public discussion into the mainstream of workplaces, schools, and homes. Over the years since, the wider recognition of emotions as a legitimate domain of health and performance has only grown, and Emotional Intelligence Awareness Month has grown with it.

October turns out to be a fitting home for the observance. The month also hosts Emotional Wellness Month, observed since 2004, and World Mental Health Day on October 10, making October a concentrated period for emotional and psychological health awareness more broadly. The Emotional Intelligence Institute’s campaign materials encourage participants to dig into better understanding themselves, exploring major discoveries about the mind and revealing the importance of better understanding emotions. Nature influences emotions more easily than we realize, particularly when we are not aware of what to avoid and what to nurture, and the month offers a structured, gentle way to begin that exploration.

The Institute’s invitation is refreshingly simple: find life’s greatest discovery, which is self-awareness, and pursue healthy mind development. The more we learn about emotional intelligence, the more we enhance our emotional stability, our security, our physical health, and our ability to treat other people and things in healthier, more meaningful ways. With healthy behavior being the number one factor that leads to a more civilized society, developing a better understanding of our emotions can be one of our greatest contributions toward a more emotionally stable world. Researchers are gaining incredible insight into the emotional components of mind development, and each October is a chance to share in those discoveries.

Emotional Intelligence Awareness Month does not ask for perfection. It asks for attention. Most days we move through our routines without noticing how we feel, unless we make a point to stop and check in with ourselves. This October, take that moment. Name the feeling, notice what it needs, and respond with a little more wisdom than yesterday. That is emotional intelligence in action, and it is a skill worth practicing all year long.

The campaign has always had a playful side, too. Past campaign posters invited participants to search the image for hidden hearts, with the count revealed on the Institute’s website, a small exercise in the very skill the month promotes: noticing what is right in front of you. The Institute has also connected its work to the International Decade of the Mind, a broader scientific effort to better understand the human mind. The hope, as the Institute has expressed it, is that by the end of this century, authors will be writing of the incredible revolutionary accomplishments of research as we continue to better understand the mind. October is one small, steady step in that direction.

THE STORY BEHIND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AWARENESS MONTH

🧠 The 2001 Institute
In 2001, Sandra Hughes McDevitt founded the Emotional Intelligence Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping individuals become more self-aware, better understand the mind emotionally, and more intelligently manage their thoughts and behavior.

📖 Two Hundred Free Pages
Sandra McDevitt has written more than 200 pages of emotional intelligence lesson materials, shared for free on the Institute’s website, along with an Emotional Intelligence Activity Book for Kids.

📅 The 2006 Campaign
The Emotional Intelligence Institute originated the Emotional Intelligence Awareness Month campaign in 2006 and has orchestrated it every October since, providing free campaign materials at the e-ii.org website.

📚 Goleman’s 1995 Book
The 1995 publication of Daniel Goleman’s landmark book on emotional intelligence drove significant academic and popular attention to the subject, creating fertile ground for awareness campaigns like this one.

🌍 An October of the Mind
October also hosts Emotional Wellness Month, observed since 2004, and World Mental Health Day on October 10, making the month a concentrated period for emotional and psychological health awareness.

💡 Self-Awareness as Discovery
The Institute describes self-awareness as life’s greatest discovery, and healthy mind development as a treasure worth pursuing, because understanding our emotions makes life more meaningful and far less stressful.

❤️ The Hidden Hearts
Past Emotional Intelligence Awareness Month posters invited readers to search the picture for hidden hearts, with the count posted on the Institute’s website, a playful exercise in noticing what is right in front of you.

WAYS TO CELEBRATE

📖 Download Free Lessons
Visit the Emotional Intelligence Institute’s website and explore the free lesson materials, more than 200 pages covering self-awareness, healthy mind development, and the wonders of the mind.

💬 Practice Naming Your Emotions
Once a day this October, pause and name what you are feeling. Most of us move through the day without noticing our emotions unless we make a point to check in, and that small habit is emotional intelligence in action.

👥 Share the Materials
Help others become more aware by copying and sharing the Institute’s free campaign materials with those in key positions, at work, at school, or in your community, and posting them where legal.

Celebrate Emotional Intelligence Awareness Month

All through October 2027, give your inner life the attention it deserves. Learn what emotional intelligence is, practice noticing your emotions, and share what you learn with the people around you. The more we understand our emotions, the kinder we become to ourselves and to one another. This October, find life’s greatest discovery: self-awareness, and carry it with you into every month that follows.