Empathetic Fear: Someone very close to me was intensely worried about my safety driving home this morning, so worried in fact that I became a bit afraid, not because of something happening to me, but what would happen to them if something happened to me. There is a longer, better way to say this but I'm sticking with the spirit of the post. In general, since beginning regular mindfulness practice I have become incrementally more aware of how I am feeling on a more short term basis than the normal 'How are you? ... Good.' that permeates day-to-day interaction. It allows me to find an answer to this kind of question with the same ease as glancing over a written page, compared to the snipe hunt it sometimes was before. Emotional intelligence is something that requires my active attention and practice, and it begins with self-awareness.