Emotional Literacy Education Course 101
Lesson One: What Is Emotional Literacy?
by Mark Zimmerman

This beginners course teaches you how Emotional Literacy Education can help you achieve the goals of happiness and satisfaction in relationships. It introduces you to new relationship skills helpful to you in fulfilling your needs for safety, love and relationships, self-esteem and the actualization of your dreams and highest potential.

001 Commentary On Susie Orbach #1 
The first time I came across the concept of Emotional Literacy was at the Antidote Website, where I read Susie Orbach's definition. She is a Psychologist who wrote in The Guardian on August 12, 1998, "Emotional Literacy means being able to recognize what you are feeling, so that it doesn't interfere with thinking."
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002 Commentary On Claude Steiner #1
Claude Steiner is a Psychologist who works in the field of Transactional Analysis. What is important about this field of psychology is that it focuses on understanding the exchanges in relationships. Which psychologists call transactions. Transactional Analysis helps by focusing on relationships and their emotional interactions.
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003 Commentary On Dictionary Definitions
What is empathy?

A dictionary definition for empathy is the, "identification with and understanding of another's situation, feelings and motives."

It's important for us to understand the situations and the limitations that others find themselves. Those who are born in poverty, those who are born in a situation that doesn't offer the opportunity of education - requires us to take into consideration their situation. How it makes them feel. And how it makes them behave.
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004 Commentary On Claude Steiner #2
Claude Steiner continues, "Through this training," he says 'training', because Emotional Literacy must be learned, "you will become an emotional gourmand - aware of the texture, flavor and aftertaste of your emotions."

Each emotion is different. It has a different use. It has a different source. It has a different feeling. It's accompanied by different kinds of thoughts. Different emotions produce different kinds of behaviors. And Claude Steiner is making us aware that we can differentiate the texture and flavor of our emotions.
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005 Commentary On Susie Orbach #2
At the Antidote Website Susie Orbach wrote, "Our aim is to create an Emotionally Literate Culture, where the facility to handle the complexities of emotional life is as widespread as the capacity to read, write and do arithmetic."

Emotional Literacy is a cultural enhancement achieved through education. In which we are not only expanding the capacities of our emotions, but also we are expanding the capacity of our intellect.

We are giving ourselves more choices in our behaviors' to others in our relationships. And we are learning how better to fulfill our own needs, thereby bringing more satisfaction into our lives.
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006 Commentary On Peter Sharp
Peter Sharp, Psychologist, wrote in his book, Nurturing Emotional Literacy, "Nurturing Emotional Literacy helps people to recognize, understand, handle and appropriately express their emotions. How we manage our emotions, and the positive impact that Emotional Literacy can have on improving standards in schools has been overshadowed recently by the attention given to the three R's. This handbook seeks to redress this, and looks at the importance of the fourth 'R' relationships."

I like this particular statement by Peter Sharp, because it defines Emotional Literacy in the context of relationships. Which he describes in education as the fourth 'R'. In our schools children are put together in a classroom, and they are taught how to read, write and do arithmetic. But they're not taught how to interact with one another. Even though we put them in the same room together, and we force them to interact with one another, yet we give them no guidance.
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007 Commentary On Asuman Martone
Asuman Martone, a Transactional Psychologist, wrote, "Emotional literacy is the recognition and consequent development of skills and abilities to deal with our many powerful forces. We must learn about our emotions before we can climb to the next level of development."

Of all the definitions of Emotional Literacy, this one has the most profound implications. The statement that, "Emotional Literacy is the recognition and consequent development of skills and abilities," is a very clear picture of what Emotional Literacy is. Because it's the development of skills which help us as human beings to fulfill our needs. And it's only through need fulfillment, that we achieve satisfaction in our lives. So Emotional Literacy is the development of skills, that help us fulfill our needs and achieve satisfaction.
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008 Commentary On Paula Cole
I have always liked this song by Paula Cole. Paula Cole, Musician and Songwriter, wrote in her song, The Ladder,

"I am climbing a ladder of urgency.

"Climbing a ladder of hope.

"Climbing a ladder of my emotions.

"Climbing a ladder of unraveling rope."

Understanding our emotions: being able to identify them; being able to recognize them; being able to categorize them into function; and what they do for us; and how they are used; and how they affect others, and what they mean to us, is like climbing a ladder of emotional development.
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009 Commentary On Mark Zimmerman
I would like to conclude with a quote, which I have written, and which can be found at my Website: emotionalliteracyeducation.com.

There I wrote, "Emotional Literacy Education is the refinement of a knowledge base that has been around for thousands of years. It has been the focus of religion, philosophy, science and psychology. It is Self-Knowledge which has been formulated into a language of emotions which can be taught."

For Emotional Literacy to progress, it needs one more component to its definition. That component is education. Education in the tradition of an educational system.
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010 Susie Orbach Quotes: Susie Orbach's Quotes Referenced.

011 Claude Steiner Quotes: Claude Steiner's Quotes Referenced.

012 Dictionary Quotes: Dictionary Quotes Referenced.

013 Peter Sharp Quotes: Peter Sharp's Quotes Referenced.

014 Asuman Martone Quotes: Asuman Martone's Quotes Referenced.

015 Paula Cole Quotes: Paula Cole's Quotes Referenced.

016 Mark Zimmerman Quotes: Mark Zimmerman's Quotes Referenced.