EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE 3.0

Bryan presents a systematic plan for developing one’s emotional intelligence.

This self-help work jumps right into its titular subject right at the start, grounding it in her account in her own personal history in which she tells of overcoming the effects of brain damage caused by fevers she had as an infant: “I became a lifelong learner,” she writes. From these experiences and her further reading, she developed what she calls “The Model of Emotional Development,” a complex concept with many parts, helpfully illustrated in the text, which is designed to help readers reach a state of “Emotional Intelligence 3.0,” an awareness that allows one to “to become the best version of yourself personally and professionally,” according to the author. This model includes four “organizing principles” and five emotional states (“Protection,” “Expression,” “Integration,” “Silence & Oneness,” and “Presenced Wholeness”) with nine indicators, all of which Bryan carefully explains in detail. She illustrates the chapters with charts and other graphics and caps them with “Tomi’s Takeaways,” in which she presents bullet points of the chapter’s contents. The author’s empathy for her readers—particularly those who, like herself, were raised in an environment that didn’t handle emotions well—is plain and firm. However, many assertions in this book have a feeling of pseudoscientific vagueness that won’t change skeptics’ minds: “The Chart of Consciousness frequency scale tops out at 1,000, the level of enlightenment,” she writes at one point. “Its corresponding emotion is ineffable, or beyond words, and its process is pure consciousness.” Other pronouncements seem too easy to disprove: “Every feeling you have is important, serves a purpose, and should be embraced and honored, especially if you want to maximize your potential.” That said, readers who find the author’s self-help model engaging will find a good deal of detail here.

An energetic, elaborate self-actualization program but one that may not convince all readers.