Science and Sensibility

A psychological potpourri.

Protect Yourself from Anger

Overcome anger, anxiety, and procrastination with confident composure. Start now and read how. (By Dr. Bill Knaus and Dr. Irwin Altrows) Read More

Anger

Dr Bill, Truly insightful article , one that allows as anger seem at times to close doors this opens ways to see beyond it all .

Especially a difficult this to do when one is in the heat of it or finds themselves in a place that they wish they could be a gennie and just blink to make it all stop . Often the latter in life for some is where difficulty is found as it may be a place that you do not find that you even have a voice in the thunder of someone else's rants or words . Even if you are to speak the words you may find yourself wondering why no one is hearing or may be it to be defined as listening . As so often so many do not want to hear what another has to say or feels . Anger for some seems to be a past time as for others as to say or me is one I would rather study about and find ways of just serving as it seems to take all the oxygen out of the room . Even if I am listening to what they are angry about I still wonder how it is that it go to this level do they want it to be or was it something that just have become used to do in their life . To where when ever they pleased they could do this yet if for others to want to even peep a word it throws the Candace of sorts off that they may have had in it all . Again I wonder why this is .
Does anger have place in our lives maybe as many times there are things that can happen that really you need to stand up for have voice . Yet to use it as a past time as some I wonder is there something I do not know , A new way to burn off calories . As for me I loose a bunch when someone is angry with me or at least it feels this way . Or is it something more they just want to be heard when they already had someone listen that would hear what they had to say . Yet they have found being a bully or hurting and using anger is the way to make a point in life . The point is clear after the smoke clears as one may be laying on the ground and the other feels to be the victor but why if to only have listened beyond their own anger then maybe they would have know they had someone listening that truly cared . Who is to know as anger as you have mentioned comes in many form , and the Budda quotes are powerful as just in few words it can envelope what it may all be about . Anger a thing that I would have preferred in life never to have seen or lived with though as I see others badly then how can I not say anger is not something we need . Maybe it is just how we show it and what the purpose is . A feeling we humans have , darn it all even in days when I look in the mirror and see another gray hair . Am I angry I prefer to say I just getting old . Guess I am a real wimp when it comes to anger ,though I rather live in peace then in hate . As we all walk this life together do we not together .

Thank you for raising several

Thank you for raising several important points that our blog only hinted at.

1. Other people's anger is their problem. You can choose not to allow it to become your problem. How?
a. By not trying to outdo them with your own anger.
b. By not feeling responsible for calming them down.
c. By simply listening and trying to understand why they are reacting this way. For example, if they're angry with you for something you did, you can agree to calmly examine your actions together, and make any behavioural changes that you feel are suitable. When people are angry with your behaviour, they might negatively judge you as a person, but you can sidestep the judging trap by focusing on the behaviour.

2. You can choose to live with very little anger of your own. Unless your goal is to dominate other people, you seldom or never need anger to achieve your goals. You do need to have some assertiveness skills, however, which are very different from anger and incompatible with it. Confident composure is the attitude that supports assertiveness.

3. So, although you can't control the world and the people in it, and anger will be in the world for a very long time, you can certainly do a lot to reduce your own anger, to reduce the effects on your life of other people's anger, and to calmly achieve many of your personal and relationship goals.

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Dr. Bill Knaus, Ed.D., is the author of more than 20 books; one, "Overcoming Procrastination", was co-authored with Albert Ellis.

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