Use A Journal To Help Control Your Anger
Use A Journal To Help Control Your Anger. Intense feelings of anger can cause some people to react in violent or
destructive ways towards others or property that can cause not only harm to the receivers of your anger, but to you
as well.
Understanding why you become angry and what triggers your anger can help lead you to exercises that you can do
to help you control your anger. Understanding There are several ways to help you understand your anger. One way is
to take classes geared towards anger management.
Another way is to have one on one counseling sessions with a professional who understands the dynamics of anger
management and can guide you through the steps of understanding what makes you angry and why.
Another way is to keep an Anger Journal. This journal is your personal thoughts about the episodes of anger that
you experience. Journal Exercise Write down 5 to 10 things that make you angry in general. These things can be
small annoyances that tend to blow up if not kept in check, to huge volcanic size stimulus.
A small annoyance may be someone leaving the bread wrapper open, or the person who cuts in line at a concert
ticket booth. A volcanic size thing may be the person who rear-ended your car last month, or the person who is the
class bully. To you what makes something volcanic may be totally different from the things that make others feel
that measure of intensity.
Your journal is about your own personal triggers and writing things down will help you to identify what triggers
your anger. Identifying triggers is the first step to understanding your anger. As you are journaling number the
things you write down as far as how intense they make you feel, with 10 being volcanic and 1 being the very least
amount of anger.
After you have identified and rated your triggers, now you need to write down what you did each time you
encountered one of these triggers.
Did You Know This About Anger Management
How To Locate Anger Management Classes
Anger management classes can address any number of issues common to individuals in need of controlling their anger. They may also address more specific health related issues that can be at the root of uncontrolled anger that are of a more personal issue. When you are looking into which class to attend asking the facilitator some questions concerning the credential of the class leader as well as what subjects will be taught may help you to decide which class to take. Classes can be designed to...
|
Write down what you remember saying and doing for each incidence that you can remember. For instance, did you
express yourself in words only, did you become physical in anyway towards persons or objects? Now that you have
taken not of what happened during your episodes of anger, the next step is to write down how your actions or words
made you feel.
Then, write down how you think your words or actions made those involved in the situation feel.
Write about those directly involved and any bystanders or witnesses to the situation. How do you think they felt
about what happened?
What if any consequences or punishments did you receive concerning what you did during the anger
episode? Did you feel that the consequence was deserved? If the situation were to occur again, can you see yourself
reacting any differently, knowing what the consequences were from the first encounter?
|
Energy Release: Anger leads to a high energy states that can last for hours or more, and can
lead to escalating anger if we let this energy fester.
To avoid this, simple exercises like walking and running can help release the energy and calm us
down so that we can get a better perspective on a situation that is causing anger and also
think about how reasonable we are being.
|
Does knowing how you and others feel about how you handled anger in the past make you feel that you
need to manage your anger any differently? The journal exercise should give you a better understanding of your
anger issues. Understanding can lead to positive solutions. You should feel proud of yourself for wanting to
improve how you handle your anger.
|