Anger is a difficult emotion to deal with for a number of reasons. Maybe you grew up in a family where anger was expressed in hurtful, aggressive, or violent ways. Maybe you were taught that expressions of anger were unacceptable, and you learned to suppress or hide your emotions. Many of us walk around feeling angry and not knowing what to do about it.
You may find yourself pretending that everything’s fine when inside you are boiling. Or maybe you find your anger exploding out of you, screaming at or hurting those close to you. Anger is a normal, human emotion. We feel appropriate anger in a range of situations: when we are cut off in traffic, if our mother criticizes us, when the boss treats us disrespectfully. For the most part, anger is a self-protective emotion that acts as a red flag to warn us that something is happening to us that feels bad, or disrespectful.
Anger can be a useful emotion that can signal us to take charge, make a change, or protect ourselves in a given situation. Anger is a difficult emotion to deal with for a number of reasons. Maybe you grew up in a family where anger was expressed in hurtful, aggressive, or violent ways. Maybe you were taught that expressions of anger were unacceptable, and you learned to suppress or hide your emotions.
Many of us walk around feeling angry and not knowing what to do about it. You may find yourself pretending that everything’s fine when inside you are boiling. Or maybe you find your anger exploding out of you, screaming at or hurting those close to you. Anger is a normal, human emotion. We feel appropriate anger in a range of situations: when we are cut off in traffic, if our mother criticizes us, when the boss treats us disrespectfully.
For the most part, anger is a self-protective emotion that acts as a red flag to warn us that something is happening to us that feels bad, or disrespectful. Anger can be a useful emotion that can signal us to take charge, make a change, or protect ourselves in a given situation.