Cultivating Calm Is Emotional Intelligence in Action The theme for my classses this month has been Cultivating Calm.  It sounds simple but asks a lot of us. Not pretend calm. Not a spiritual performance. Not the kind where we paste on a smile while something inside is tight or burning. Real calm. Practiced calm. The kind that develops when we take responsibility for the energy we bring into shared space. When it comes to emotional intelligence, here is what I know for sure: