For Every Minute You Are Angry...
Anger.
Quite possibly one of the most powerful emotions that we will experience in our lifetime and as a result, one of the most difficult to control. Its like lighting a fuse and when it starts to burn, it becomes almost impossible to stop the explosion.
We have all been guilty of letting our anger get the better of us and most of us will have been on the receiving end of someone's temper, but what does this actually mean for you from both a physical and emotional level and how can you learn to control it.
Launched by The British Association of Anger Management, (BAAM), in 2000, Christmas was picked as the ideal time. With the run up to it considered to be one of the most stressful times of the year, it was the perfect time to talk about the causes and symptoms of anger and provide coping strategies for dealing with outbursts and challenging behaviour.
With anger believed to contribute to a huge amount of workplace stress, it has a massive impact not just on a personal level, but also day to day as well and the statistics are very telling.
Not only does anger have an external impact on your immediate environment, and by extension the people in it, it has a huge physiological impact and can be exceptionally detrimental to physical health.
Along with a higher risk of stroke or heart attack, all of the above symptoms can occur when a situation results in uncontrollable anger, and this is before the mental health aspect is even considered.
So, the question is, what can you do to master that emotion? Used in the right way, anger energy can be used to help you achieve things you may have otherwise struggled with.
It may seem overly simplistic but counting can actually help to defuse anger. Counting down from 10 to 1 slowly will change your immediate focus, slow your heart rate and hopefully allow you to gain back control.
When you get very angry, one of the physical changes your body experiences is your breathing becoming shallower and faster. Reversing that will help to reduce those emotions. Whilst counting down, slowly breathe deeply in and out until you start to feel calmer.
Is there something that you have meant to do or something you feel strongly about. Anger creates a huge amount of pent up energy that has nowhere to go so instead of using it in a negative way, channel it into something that is healthy and productive.
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Sometimes removing yourself from the immediate situation can be all you need to start to calm down. Use the energy to go for a walk and allow yourself to think, ride a bike or kick a ball around. Not only will exercise help to burn the anger energy, but it changes your focus and helps to keep you healthy.
We have all made the mistake of saying things we know we shouldn't when anger gets the better of us, but learning not to is hugely important. Not only does shutting your mouth give you time to gather your thoughts and calm down a little, it also means that you shouldn't find yourself in a position where you have to apologise for something that you can't take back.
Not allowing yourself to express how you are feeling is not healthy, but how you do it is very important. Outbursts solve nothing, but getting yourself calm enough to talk about it in a mature and empathetic way is important. Your thoughts and feelings to the situation are as important as everyone else's, and when presented in the right way will allow you to feel heard.
Keeping your cool at any time of the year is important, but especially in the run up to Christmas with all the extra stress that the season brings. For many, its the most stressful time of their year, and being able to stay calm and enjoy the build up will make all the difference not just for you but for your family and friends as well.
BAAM have a fantastic Christmas 'Keep Your Cool This Yule' leaflet, and we have pulled out a handful of the tips we like. If you would like to check the whole booklet out though, the link is below.
If uncontrollable anger is something that you struggle with, there are resources out there to help and people that you can talk to. Check out the links below for more information.