10
Loading video...
By Angel Howard
Therapist, coach, speaker and author
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
We have never had more ways to communicate, yet meaningful connection has become increasingly difficult. In an era defined by constant digital interaction and artificial intelligence, I believe our greatest communication challenge is not a lack of conversation. It is a lack of self-awareness and overall emotional intelligence.
We have more ways to connect than at any point in history. We send messages instantly, hold meetings across continents, and increasingly rely on artificial intelligence to help us write, research, and respond. Yet genuine connection often feels harder than ever. People feel unheard in their relationships, misunderstood at work, and disconnected in their communities. The problem is not a lack of communication. It is a lack of self-awareness.
That matters now more than ever. As AI rapidly transforms how we work and interact, the qualities that make us distinctly human are becoming more valuable, not less. Emotional intelligence is one of them. But emotional intelligence does not begin with understanding other people. It begins with understanding ourselves.
Read More on Opinion
Too often, we try to improve our relationships by changing what we say instead of examining what we are bringing into the conversation.
Why did that comment upset me so much? Why do I keep repeating the same relationship patterns? Why do I struggle to express what I need before frustration takes over?
...
Those questions are far more important than finding the perfect response. They reveal that communication starts long before words leave our mouths.
I've spent years studying human behavior, and one lesson has remained remarkably consistent: people communicate through far more than language. We communicate through our tone, posture, breathing, facial expressions, and emotional state. When our words say one thing but our bodies communicate another, people notice. They may not know why something feels off, but they sense the disconnect. Your mind may believe it is sending one message while your body is broadcasting something entirely different.
That is why I believe emotional intelligence begins before communication.
One of the biggest mistakes we make is separating the mind from the body. In reality, they work together constantly. Long before we consciously recognize fear, anxiety, or anger, our bodies have often already responded. A difficult conversation tightens our shoulders. Stress shortens our breath. Anxiety knots our stomach. These physical reactions are not inconveniences to ignore. They are valuable information.
Yet many of us have been taught to dismiss them.
Instead of asking why we feel uncomfortable, we push through. Instead of becoming curious, we suppress what we feel. Over time, we lose touch with the very signals that could help us communicate more honestly.
My own perspective grew from years as an athlete and dancer, where body awareness was essential. Those experiences taught me that genuine awareness is never purely intellectual. The body is constantly communicating if we are willing to listen. Later, my own personal growth reinforced the same lesson: the answers I needed were never found by looking farther outside myself. They came from learning to become still enough to look within.
That lesson has become even more relevant as artificial intelligence reshapes nearly every aspect of modern life. AI can summarize information, generate content, and solve complex problems faster than ever before. I use it myself because it is an extraordinary tool. But no matter how sophisticated it becomes, it cannot feel.
It cannot experience empathy. It cannot build trust. It cannot understand the vulnerability required to apologize, forgive, or comfort another human being. Those experiences remain uniquely ours. That is why I believe emotional intelligence is becoming more valuable in the age of AI. Artificial intelligence can help us process information. Emotional intelligence helps us process ourselves.
Businesses are already recognizing this shift. Harvard Business School highlights that as AI takes on more routine and analytical work, leadership experts increasingly point to emotional intelligence, empathy, ethical judgment, and relationship building as the human skills machines can’t replicate. To me, that's exactly where the future of leadership is headed. The more capable AI becomes, the more valuable our distinctly human qualities will be.
The same principle applies far beyond the workplace.
Families do not lose connection because they lack ways to communicate. Relationships rarely fail because people run out of words. More often, they struggle because people stop feeling emotionally safe enough to express what they truly need.
One of the greatest misconceptions about personal growth is that it requires becoming someone else. I don't believe that at all.
Knowing ourselves isn’t just a personal development exercise anymore. It’s becoming an economic and social imperative. If emotional intelligence is one of the few capabilities AI cannot replicate, we should start treating it that way. Schools should teach emotional intelligence alongside academic subjects. Universities and professional programs should prepare future leaders to manage people as well as technology. And companies investing heavily in AI should invest just as deliberately in emotional intelligence training for executives, managers, and engineering teams.
We cannot expect people building the technologies of tomorrow to succeed if they aren't equally equipped to understand themselves and the people those technologies are meant to serve.
The future of communication will not be defined by how quickly we can send messages or how convincingly machines can imitate human conversation. It will be defined by whether we have the wisdom to invest in the one capability technology will never replace: our humanity.
Angel Howard is a somatic movement therapist, executive coach, speaker, author, and host of the Upshift podcast. As the creator of the ChakraMental Method, she helps leaders, creatives, and changemakers strengthen self-awareness, emotional resilience, and authentic communication by reconnecting with the wisdom of the body. Her work integrates somatic movement, neuroscience, and embodied leadership to help people lead and communicate with greater clarity and purpose.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines