I remember the first time I traveled outside of the United States. My mother, who’d traveled internationally long before I did, kept going on about travel advisories. She said it was important that I check what safety advisories the government had in place for certain countries. For Americans, checking travel advisories is the norm before going abroad. But have you ever thought about what other places think about travel safety in the US? Surprisingly, despite the US being one of the most advanced places in the world, many nations still warn their citizens to be careful when visiting the states.…

There are two ways people can try to improve their emotional intelligence. The hard way, which involves studying the concepts, training yourself to analyze interactions, and working case by case to isolate emotions from other motivations. The easy way, which involves memorizing phrases that inspire positive emotional reactions, and training yourself to use these phrases in the place of others that can be more counterproductive. The examples speak for themselves. Here are five specific things that people with high emotional intelligence learn to say reflexively, over and over, and why they work better than the alternatives. 1. "I apologize." Say…