June 17, 2014
What is anger? This is one emotion that we may experience often but we never stop to question what it is and how it comes about. What is clear though is that some people have an easier time dealing with it than others. People that can deal with it seem to have a better understanding about what anger is all about. This does not mean that anger is an emotion that we should try to live without.
Many times it is important for us to express our frustration through anger just to get our point across. It is also a way for us to let other people know that our feelings were hurt. However, we need to learn to express our anger without resulting to a verbal or physical assault. That type of anger is more hurtful than it is helpful. It can actually be more hurtful to the person that perpetrates the assault than to his victim. More often than not, those who choose to assault other people end up regretting their behavior. However by then the damage is done and it is beyond repair.
Anger is more than a state of mind. Anger can trigger physical changes that may include increased heart rate, increased in adrenaline, which prepares us for “flight or fight,” and increased blood pressure. As such, long term anger can be detrimental to your health.
There are also different types of angers. There is the irrational type that I just mentioned, where a person may result to verbal or physical attack, and there is the mild anger that can be brought on if our basic human needs are not met like sleep, food, or shelter. Anger can also be secondary to feeling frightened, threatened or lonely. Sometimes the best way to stop feeling angry is by understanding why you are feeling angry. This way you can take the necessary steps to achieve a sense of peace and feel more at ease about the situation that brought it on.