8 Tools for Managing your Anger
1. Learn to recognize when you are feeling stressed ā This will help you to reduce your stress before it is expressed as destructive anger.
2. Work on developing your empathy ā Trying to see things from anotherās perspective often helps to dissipate intense emotions.
3. Decide to respond instead of react ā Although the way we react often feels automatic, we can actually choose how weāll think, feel and respond. This is empowering, and the road to freedom.
4. Change your self talk - Listen to the conversation in your head and learn to modify extreme, unbalanced thoughts. Look for exceptions to āyou alwaysā thinking, and reframe āyou mustā or āyou shouldā demands.
5. Learn to be assertive ā Honest and open communication about your wishes, needs and preferences can stop resentment building ā so it doesnāt turn to anger.
6. Adjust your expectations ā Often anger is triggered by a difference between our expectations and what we actually get. Thus, sometimes it is better to adjust our expectations so theyāre more in line with reality.
7. Forgiving doesnāt also mean forgetting ā Although it is healthy to sometimes let things go, that doesnāt mean we werenāt hurt, upset or offended. The difference is weāre choosing to move on with our lives, and weāre not being controlled by external events.
8. Remove yourself from the situation ā Retreating temporarily or ātaking time-outā provides some space to think about the ābest thing to doā. Thus you maintain control of yourself and circumstances.
