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Do you ever punish yourself for someone else’s wrong doing? Is harming yourself a natural reaction to people’s incompetence, ungratefulness or annoying habits? Are you extremely careless about your health? Do these questions sound ill logical? Perhaps they do, but they illustrate how people behave when angry.
Though anger is a natural human reaction, when uncontrolled, frequent anger is a cause of concern. If you get irritated easily, get involved in heated arguments often, lose your temper at the slightest provocation, then anger is a problem you need to deal with.
How to Manage your Anger
Acknowledge your problem
Most of us with anger management issues do not even realize or acknowledge that we have a problem. Admitting you have a problem is the first major step in solving it.
Understand how poisonous and futile anger is
All of us go to a doctor when sick. We don’t deliberately go and consume toxic substances. We try to take care of our health. We watch movies, read books or do something or the other to get rid of stress. Why? Well, because we are rational human beings and we value our lives. Isn’t it strange then, that we forget rationality and our love for our lives the moment we get angry?!
High blood pressure, insomnia, depression, anxiety, increased risk of heart attacks; anger has the potential to bring all these diseases into our precious lives. In fact some research studies also suggest that prolonged anger can actually lower the body’s natural immunity, thereby making it more susceptible to diseases. Isn’t it surprising then that we don’t view anger as a poisonous substance?
Anger is our reaction to certain stimuli. It could be a situation or a person. We get angry when a colleague/team member is inefficient, or at the annoying habits of other people, or when things don’t go our way. We can even get angry with day to day life routines.
Think of every time you’ve been angry at someone or about something, then ask yourself, did it do you any good? Did your anger get you the assignment you wanted? Did you manage to change someone’s annoying habits by getting angry? Did someone suddenly stop driving like a lunatic because you screamed at them? See how futile anger is? It is not only non-productive; it also harms your body and mind.
Tips and tricks to manage anger
Sometimes, no matter how much we try and control ourselves we can’t help but get angry. Here are certain anger management techniques that can help you in such situations:
*Lock yourself in a room and hit a pillow for as long as you want. This will help you let out some steam. Once you are a little calmer, remember how being angry affects you and how the only person you are harming with this anger, is yourself. With time you’ll observe that following this routine will help you control your anger.
*Sit by yourself and deep breathe and imagine that with every out breath you are exhaling your anger. It is simple and effective and if done persistently, it can have an amazingly calming effect.
Additionally, here are some other techniques to help build up anger resistance:
*Take up an aggressive sport- If you are naturally aggressive or have a lot of pent up anger within you, taking up a sport like kickboxing, football or tennis etc can be extremely therapeutic.
*Exercise regularly. During exercise the brain releases chemicals called endorphins, which induce a natural feeling of euphoria. Moreover exercise also helps in letting out steam or built up anger.
*Meditate. Meditating brings you in touch with your subconscious, the exercise lets you spend time with yourself, so that you can reflect and understand yourself better.
All these tips should be able to help you manage your anger; however, if your issues are deep rooted such as childhood trauma, abuse, or death of a loved one, you might have to undergo psychological counseling.
Feel your anger is hurting you? Talk about it and learn more ways to control it at http://www.boomeryearbook.com
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