Controlling Your Anger

Do you ever feel as if all of your buttons are being pressed?

At some point or another, we are all moved to anger, if not then there is something wrong with us.

Dr. Abraham Twerski tells a story of a client, a nun, who had been suffering from migraine headaches for some time.  Despite his greatest efforts to help her, they seemed to be making little progress.  One day Dr. Twerski forgot about her appointment with him and left the office.

It wasn’t until seeing her in his waiting room the following week that he remembered. Dr. Twerski apologized profusely and suggested that they spend their session examining her anger towards him; but all his client could say was that she doesn’t ever get angry and that she has no bitter feelings towards him.  He suggested that perhaps her anger is inappropriately directed inwardly, thus causing her apparently incurable migraines.  Shortly after this realization her migraines disappeared as her anger found more appropriate, and less destructive, forms of expression.

Anger is natural.  It is neither good nor bad, helpful or hurtful. It is imperative for our mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being that we find useful outlets for our anger.  The first place to begin is by non-judgmental acknowledgment and awareness of our anger.  Then we can proceed to diffuse our anger and direct it to harmless, productive, and even meaningful ways including journaling about it, speaking it out, deep breathing (breathing it out), walking it out, or a variety of other healthy and beneficial ways.

The main points to remember when it comes to controlling anger are:

• We need not be frightened by our anger;
• We need not be controlled by our anger;
• We have the ability to harness and control our anger, directing our anger towards positive and meaningful outlets.

Click here for more tips on controlling you anger from The Mayo Clinic.

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