The Zodiac Signs Ranked From Having The Least To The Most Emotional Intelligence

You know those times when you feel your emotions taking over and you can't process or control them? Well, if you could control them, you'd be practicing emotional intelligence. People who take the time to understand their feelings, recognize them, and then process and move on from them are in touch with their emotions. They're less likely to throw temper tantrums or blame others for the way they feel. Emotional intelligence is also sometimes referred to as EQ.

So, what does your EQ have to do with your zodiac sign? First, it's important to know that your sun and moon sign both play somewhat of a role in your emotions. Your sun sign reveals your motivations, and your moon sign rules your emotions (so that's an important one to look at as you go through this list). This means that if what you read for your sun sign doesn't quite ring true for how you deal with your emotions, perhaps you should read the entry for your moon sign, too. The elements of the signs really come into play regarding emotions, so you may notice a pattern here, beginning with the easy-to-anger fire signs all the way to the in-touch-with-their-emotions water signs. Now, let's take a look at the signs in order from least EQ to most.

When you think of the ram, your first thought may be of this animal butting its head against a wall or another ram, and this speaks volumes about Aries and their short tempers. This sign is known to be super quick to judge and go from calm to impatient at a high speed, and it's that impatience that makes them not so great at dealing with their emotions. If they stopped to think before reacting, they'd surely be farther down on this list.

Aries also tend to be impulsive — again, because they do before they think. Impulsiveness can get you in trouble if you're not careful. For an Aries sun or moon sign looking to find more emotional intelligence in their lives, you definitely want to recognize when that need to do something rash creeps in, then stop and think about those feelings before acting on them. While this is easier said than done, emotional intelligence is a trait that can be learned. Everyone has the ability to change their EQ, and it's easier to do once you know where your emotional issues are.

Some people see Leo as a very emotional sign, but, despite having those emotions, they keep them locked up inside where they fester. The prideful lion is steadfast in making sure they look strong and unwavering, so even when they feel hurt by someone close to them, they push those feelings down and hold them within instead of getting them out. It's that trick of harboring their feelings that makes fiery Leo so explosive at times.

If you are a Leo who wants to learn how to increase your EQ and express your emotions in a healthy way, you simply need to learn to open up more to the people around you. You may fear that expressing your hurts and emotions will make you look weak, but it actually adds to your strength because it shows the people around you that you are in touch with your emotions and able to cope even when facing stressful situations.

Sagittarius folks are known for their outgoing personalities and love of people and travel, but they have a secret when it comes to that outgoing side — they hide their emotions. Yep, they are silent sufferers but for a reason. These outgoing archers don't want people to see that they have a vulnerable side and are so dead set on doing everything themselves that it makes them afraid to ask for help when they need it. If they were better at sharing their feelings, they'd for sure have a higher EQ.

Instead of holding those feelings inside, Sagittarius would do well having a close friend to confide in when feeling emotional. This gives you a person to let your guard down with so you can get things off your chest and process those feelings instead of keeping them to yourself. Keeping feelings bottled up doesn't do anything good for us — we stew on them, adding more pain and stress to our lives, and this makes it harder to let go of them. Even if you can't muster the courage to talk to someone, start a journal where you can spill those emotions.

Taurus is a stubborn nut to crack, but those who have been close to well-balanced Tauruses can attest that these bulls can be loving, sweet, and cuddly once you get past that tough exterior. Unfortunately, it's never easy to crack that shell. Taurus always wants to appear as if they can do everything on their own. Their stubbornness holds them back from expressing emotions all too often. You can try all you want to get them to open up, but they're the type of person to continually say "I'm fine" when they're not fine at all.

If you are a stubborn Taurus with hurt feelings or emotions you're not yet willing to share with others, we suggest you share at least a little bit with the people who want to know how you're feeling. You don't have to unload all of your feelings on them, but knowing how to share your inner world with someone is a way to boost your EQ. As an earth sign, Tauruses tend to be more grounded, but this can also cause them to get stuck keeping everything to themselves — learn to share; it'll help.

There seems to be a pattern here — those with the lowest EQ tend to be the more stoic signs that bottle up their emotions. First, we had the fire signs, and now we're getting deep into the earth signs who may seem balanced on the outside, but who tend to be a mess of emotions on the inside. Virgo is careful about whom they let into their lives, so it takes them a long time to open up to people. While it's not necessarily good to be an oversharer, your EQ would be higher if you learned when it's okay to share your emotions and when it's best to keep them to yourself — sharing often makes us feel better.

On the other hand, Virgo doesn't like it when other people hide their emotions from them — this double standard is another reason they have a lower EQ than some of the other signs. A good lesson for Virgo would be to understand that people are more likely to share their feelings and emotions with others who are willing to share their own. If you open up more, they will, too.

Capricorn is our third earth sign on this list. Capricorns have a bit of emotional intelligence, but they choose to ignore their emotions because they can get in the way of their busy lives chasing the dollars that earth signs love. This is the main reason they are not placed higher on this list. Yes, they know the skills to deal with their emotions, but, because they choose to focus on everything else they have going on, they aren't processing their emotions properly. They're just holding onto that baggage, which, at some point, will turn into burnout.

If you're a busy Capricorn living a hectic life, we want you to stop and smell the flowers. Your EQ will thank you for taking time to process your emotions. Your friends and family may see you as unemotional, so opening up to them from time to time will deepen your bonds and help you be more open in the future when dealing with stress.

As we begin discussing the air signs, we'll find some folks who have more heightened EQs because, of course, air signs are all about communication. Knowing how to communicate your feelings is an excellent start when it comes to emotional intelligence. Aquarius has the ability to process and understand their emotions but are not farther down the list because of how they express those emotions. First, they have a tendency to spend much time analyzing their feelings. While it's important to understand your emotions, you don't want to get lost in them.

Once they finish processing and decide to share their emotions, Aquarians are likely to word vomit everything out all at once and then move on. The problem with this is that whomever they spew this information to is left dealing with these emotions while Aquarius has moved on. Instead of dropping everything on someone all at once, learn to slow down and talk things out over time. This also helps the person you're sharing with to process the information and gives you more time to ensure you're letting everything go without keeping any other emotions hidden that would put you right back on the same path.

Libra is an emotional sign, but they have a tendency to beat themselves up over their mistakes. On top of this, they tend to care more about the people around them and how everyone else feels than they care about themselves. Libra is a sign that needs to work on prioritizing self-care in their lives. Recognizing other people's feelings is a great thing and is a sign of a higher EQ. But what does it mean when this sign is so focused on hiding their own emotions?

Because they understand how these feelings affect them and they consider how their actions and feelings affect their friends, family, and co-workers, Libra is still seen as having a high EQ. What they need to work on is understanding that sharing their feelings with friends isn't always a burden and that it's okay to unload a little of your emotional baggage on them so you can pull yourself out of the funk from keeping it all inside.

Most people see Gemini as a flighty person who struggles to make up their mind. With that duality comes negative aspects that give this sign a bad rap, but, concerning emotional intelligence, Gemini has a key that some other signs are missing. That key is the ability to embrace their emotions. However, they don't beat out the water signs on this list because, while they love their emotions, good and bad, they spend too much time thinking about how other people will feel about their emotions — therefore, they process these feelings when they know they won't be in a position to be judged.

Our advice to Gemini? Spend some time alone with your emotions and work through them. Rather than simply reacting to them, spend time understanding where those feelings stem from so you can learn from them. And stop worrying about how other people will react — we all have emotions, and most people react differently to theirs. If someone does judge you, perhaps, they need to work more on their own emotions.

While Cancer is by far the most emotional of the water signs, they aren't the most emotionally intelligent, which makes sense when you think about all the feelings these watery signs process on a daily basis. They are intuitive and empathetic, so they feel for everyone but must understand the difference between someone else's pain they're feeling and their own. This is not always easy to do and can lead Cancer to lose control of their own emotions. 

Speaking of emotional control, Cancer also has a tendency to let their own emotions control them. However, they're aware of this, and, if they try hard enough, they can get back in control. They're also the perfect friend to go to when you worry about sharing your emotions with others because they truly care. For Cancers struggling to determine if the emotions are your own, sit with yourself and examine what's going on in your life. If you can't pinpoint what is making you emotional, it's probably not your emotion, and you can let it go. If it is yours, spend some time with it, understand it, make peace with it, and then get on with your day. Don't spend too much time with those emotions because you want to be in control.

This misunderstood sign is often seen as manipulative and stuck in their own world, but they're really just in touch with their emotions and not always as manipulative as they're accused of being. As a water sign, Scorpio's emotions run deep and sometimes send them to the dark side, but, luckily, this sign knows exactly how to take command of those emotions before they send them too far down the rabbit hole. While their feelings can be intense, they're also not afraid to share them. They may get loud and seem to be overtaken by their feelings, but they're the same way whenever they're truly passionate about something.

The most important thing Scorpio needs to learn when it comes to their emotions is to take it easy on the people they share with. Even if you start by explaining that you may get a bit overly passionate as you let these feelings out, this will help keep your friends and loved ones from feeling as if you're angry at them or that they did something wrong. Remember, your intensity is a bit much for people who don't have a Scorpio sun or moon in their chart!

Pisces is the most emotionally balanced of all, even if they tend to fly off the handle when something stresses them out. However, they find their center again and move to the next thing needing their attention. Pisces are known to have two sides: a dark fish and a light fish. The dark fish is the side of the Pisces person that makes them swim into deeper waters when they need to process feelings they're not ready to share with the world. The light fish is the happy, intuitive, easygoing side of Pisces that has no problem sharing their emotions with the people they trust — trust being the key word.

The only work Pisces needs to do with their EQ is to keep those Yin and Yang fish of theirs balanced so these dark fish and light fish can both help keep Pisces on a positive path. When emotions become overwhelming, let Pisces have their alone time, as they'll come back better for it. And when that light fish needs to share with you, be open to them so the dark fish has fewer reasons to come out.