by Tiffany Nash


There may be times when you find yourself angry at the least little thing. Do you get irritated when your toddler climbs up on your lap and interrupts your newspaper reading? If you want to restore a sense of self-control to your inner or external responses to situations, then you need to learn some basic anger management techniques. If you hold in your anger, it will hurt you even if it may not hurt others unless they sense your withdrawal or unspoken irritation. According to studies, people tend to suffer more health problems if they let their anger build up inside unlike those who have less anger or manage it in productive ways. Many anger management techniques are easy to learn and practice, so give them a try before losing your temper unnecessarily again.

Drain the Brain

When your temper begins to flare, one of the best anger management techniques is to mentally challenge yourself before taking out your anger on others. Questions you need to ask yourself include the degree of your anger, the source of your irritation, and the actual role of the other person I the situation. Turn circumstances around to see how you would want to be treated if the other person felt as you do. Helping your regain control over runaway emotions before they escaped and cause external damage are these mental gymnastics.

To soothe your flare-ups, you can also try traditional anger management techniques. Before saying anything, instead of counting to ten, count to twenty. If necessary, leave the room for several minutes or hours before you discuss sensitive issues that may provoke your anger. Don't immediately tackle a problem orally or in debate, write out a response first. Rather than responding with random anger, this will give you time to think about what the best approach to a problem is.

Just Walk it Off

Depending on whether you are at home or at work and the weather conditions, excuse yourself if others are present and take a quick walk down the hall or outdoors in those times when you feel the familiar rage start to rumble. As you practice the fight-or-flight strategy by escaping the potential conflict, which is one of the more popular and useful anger management techniques, even a five or ten minute stroll, especially one that is fast-paced, will help you cool your irritation.

Other valuable anger management techniques include keeping a diary and writing about negative emotions to get them out of your system. Keeping a pet is another thing you may want to do since according to studies, petting a dog or cat would help reduce the blood pressure levels and harmful substances in your body that can cause damage to blood vessels if left unchecked. Talking over situations with a trusted friend and venting to a therapist are two more anger management techniques used by thousands.




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