Anger Management: What Works for You?

It’s natural to get angry when something upsets or irritates you - anger is a primal emotion. However, improper management of anger can lead to some pretty serious health problems. According to the gurus at the health and yoga infoplace, many of the common forms of anger management we are taught actually do very little in the way of removing anger. The article criticizes taking deep breaths, stating that deep breathing does little or nothing for suppression of anger. Two other methods mentioned are expression and diversion. Diversion is the act of doing something to keep your mind occupied and off of anger. Expression is acting out your anger, i.e. hitting a punching bag or tearing the head off of a stress doll.

Bhuddism has a practice which supposedly can teach you how to deal with anger,and suppress it completely. This method requires a person to step outside of themselves and view the anger causing situation from the point of a bystander; by looking at the entire situation from the view of another, you may begin to understand the source that is causing your anger. Understanding what is causing your anger may lead to an awakening which alerts you to the sensitivity of others.

I’m all for finding safe, peaceful ways to get rid of anger, but if this Buddhist technique doesn’t work, I’m going back to the stress dolls!

Written by: Donnell Peavy