How to manage anger? 8 practical tips

Of all the sensations that make up the broad human emotional spectrum, anger is perhaps the most feared emotion.

Many associate it with violence, both physical and verbal, as well as high physiological tension that can lead to heart and muscle problems and the occasional broken tooth.

Although rabies is adaptive in adequate doses, it is true that, if it is not controlled, it can involve many problems. That is why many people, especially the most irascible, wonder... How to manage anger? In this article we will see some answers.

• Related article: "The 8 types of emotions (classification and description)"

Anger: what is it for?

Like the rest of the emotions, anger has an adaptive function. It is an emotion that prepares us for struggle and defense, making us face injustices and predisposes us to defend ourselves. Each episode of anger can be experienced with different intensity, depending on the person's own personality and what caused the appearance of this feeling.

Culturally, in the Western world, feelings related to anger and sadness have been viewed as negative, despite their clear evolutionary benefit. From sectors such as school, work or the family, the culture of "shut up and hold on" has been promoted.

Keeping your feelings is never good, especially if they corrode you inside.

However, at times, anger can be expressed in an abrupt and very destructive way, worsening the situation that originated it and causing the person who manifests it to receive the very bad consequences of a rage excessive.

How to manage anger?

Although adaptive, anger is an emotion that, if not properly managed, can have serious repercussions both for those who manifest it and those around them. When it is accumulated in excess, rationality and self-control can be completely lost, being able to say something that is not pleasant or even attack people. That is why it is important to learn how to manage it properly:

1. Accept the thrill

When you feel angry, "fighting" with her is not the solution, since it contributes to you feeling more frustrated and giving more strength to this emotion.

Accepting that you are feeling anger is the first step in learning how to manage it. It is very important to understand that, as long as you are not suffering from a serious disorder, everyone is responsible for their own emotions.

2. Identify who or what is addressed

Sometimes we get angry with ourselves for having done something wrong, sometimes with others for something they have told us, and sometimes against an object.

Whatever this feeling is directed at, it is very important to know how to identify it, understand why you are in this situation and how it is related to the fact that we have become angry.

It is useful to ask yourself questions like: Who am I angry with? Has he really done something wrong? Is it worth getting like this for this? Can I do something to change it? What are the consequences of showing my anger?

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3. Talk about it

Anger can block us, make us unable to do things, paralyze us.

As far as possible, you can try to verbalize what you feel, especially towards that person with whom we have become angry. You should try to assertively express your emotion.

Other times this is simply impossible because we are unable to articulate a single word. It is in these situations when it becomes very useful to write a letter where we detail how we feel and what we think of who has enraged us.

You can say anything, even use bad words, since after having written everything that we feel and once we have calmed down, it is as simple as taking the letter and ‘breaking’ with that Rage.

But you have to be careful, since thinking too much about the issue that has caused all this anger can do just the opposite effect to the advice given here.

4. Rage as a creative engine

Many people can only see the destructive side of anger, but what if we transform it into just the opposite?

Whether with markers, pencils, crayons or tempera and brushes, all of them allow us to express our feelings in an artistic way, and, who knows, we may even discover a new hobby.

Although normally feelings such as anger, rage, and rage are represented in warm colors, such as red, each can give it a different color. Choose the color that you think best suits rabies and put it on a piece of paper or canvas..

When you're done, ask yourself how you feel, are you still angry? Have you calmed down a bit? you are better?

5. Physical exercise

Anger is an emotion that makes us feel tense, as if we were a pressure cooker about to explode.

A good way to channel and release these energies is through sports, especially boxing, wrestling, taekwondo or other contact sports. Other options, also good, are strength lifting and aerobic sports, such as cycling and running..

After a good session of moderate to high intensity exercise, we will feel relaxed and calm, without wanting to start a fight with anyone, simply because there are no longer physical forces for it.

6. Yoga and mindfulness

Meditation, especially the techniques that have been more scientifically studied such as Mindfulness, has been effective in calming the mind.

It is difficult to enter a state of deep reflection and calm when you are in a fit of rage; However, if you make an effort every day and make meditation a habit, it can lead to many improvements on a general level.

A person who performs this type of activity is often much calmer and in a similar state to that of after having done high intensity exercise.

Yoga also serves and, in fact, stretching the muscles and getting into postures in which the Flexibility serves a similar function to weightlifting with respect to fitness. soulful.

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7. Hugs

Giving and receiving hugs can be seen as one who wants to stop a bullet by putting a flower in the barrel of the gun. But nevertheless, having someone hug us can be like a kind of 'emotional lightning rod'.

It is as if our ‘electricity’ were transmitted through the arms of the person who embraces us and brought to the ground so that they vanish as when lightning strikes the ground. It only takes a few seconds to quell a colossal fury.

8. Think before speak

It seems obvious, but how many people, being angry, have not said or done something that they should not and then have regretted?

Thinking things through before doing them and saying them can help prevent things from getting worse, especially if our potential victim is going to be a loved one or a cherished object.

Taking a deep breath while reflecting on what to say and do can go a long way. to, firstly, calm down and, secondly, avoid committing something that we later feel terribly about

Bibliographic references:

• Lee, R., Arfanakis, K., Evia, A. M., Fanning, J., Keedy, S., Coccaro, E. F. (2016) White Matter Integrity Reductions in Intermittent Explosive Disorder. Neuropsychopharmacology. DOI: 10.1038 / npp.2016.74
• Coccaro, E. F., Fitzgerald, D. A., Lee, R., McCloskey, M., Luan-Phan, M. (2016). Frontolimbic Morphometric Abnormalities in Intermittent Explosive Disorder and Aggression. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging; 1 (1): 32 DOI: 10.1016 / j.bpsc.2015.09.006
• Mostofsky, E., Penner, E. A., Mittleman, M. TO. (2014). Outbursts of anger as a trigger of acute cardiovascular events: a systematic review and meta-analysis. European Heart Journal; DOI: 10.1093 / eurheartj / ehu033