Every day we live through hundreds of emotions. From joy to sorrow, from blissfulness to anger, and even aggression. Regardless of what you feel, it’sa healthy emotion, and you need to know that. Still, giving way to the entire spectrum of feelings and emotions you have is rarely the thing we want, especially when it comes to aggression.
Such emotions can negatively affect our social relationships and our emotional and physical health. Uncontrolled anger can cause your blood pressure to go up and your heartbeat to race. Neither is good for you. To save yourself from the negative consequences of aggression, you should learn to deal with your anger and keep it at bay.
Relaxation Techniques to the Rescue!
Learning to keep your anger under control is one of the hardest things ever. Numerous relaxation techniques, however, can come in handy on your way to self-control and a healthy way to express your feelings.
You can either take up some courses on mastering relaxation techniques or just use some of the advice given below:
- Breathe deeply and slowly, using your diaphragm. Concentrate on how you feel it moving, how you hear the air coming in and out. Chest breathing is not likely to bring the result you long for.
- Create a kind of mantra and repeat it each time you feel angry. This may be only one word, like “calm”. Or you may try to work out a phrase that will help you settle your emotions, like “I’m calm and relaxed”.
- Create a super relaxing picture in your head. Images are great for distracting attention and getting rid of toxic emotions.
- Progressive muscle relaxation technique is another way to handle your anger issues. By tensing and slowly relaxing different groups of muscles, you gain multiple benefits for your physical and emotional condition.
Physical Activity for a Switch
Physical activity is one of the most effective ways to let off steam. Go for a brisk walk or spend some time kicking the punching bag in the gym if walking or jogging is not an option. Working with your muscles, you’ll help your brain distract from what you feel. Besides, physical activity is known to increase the production of endorphins – the chemicals of good emotions.
Boxing is too brutal for you, and walking is not your favorite? Yoga might be a perfect substitute. It involves both physical activity and mental relaxation, which tends to be a nice combo for a person who wants to master anger management.
Learn to Take Your Time
When you hear a triggering word or phrase, you should learn to hold your emotions at bay and think of what you want to say in response. Speaking in the heat of the moment can make you say many things you may regret later. Just a few moments spent thinking the situation over and collecting your thoughts can save you from serious mistakes.
Take a Cooling-off Timeout
Timeouts are great for emotion control. Staying alone in silence for a couple of minutes can do wonders. Stepping out of a stressful situation for a while allows looking at it from another standpoint.
Besides, you have time to cool down and think of how you can express your anger without hurting other people. Remember that being aggressive and abusive has nothing to do with proving you are right and someone else is wrong or vice versa. A cold mind and control over your emotions are the best weapons you may have against people who want to hurt your feelings.
Once you feel comfortable with what you have inside and feel strong enough to get back into the situation that has taken you off the track, your timeout is over.
Transform Your Bad Emotions into Good Actions
Anger often brings in restlessness, which only worsens your perception of the situation, eventually taking you to the boiling point. An effective way to cope with this is to transform negative emotions into actions. For instance, you can clean your house or help someone else. Putting your negative energy in the right direction does wonders.
Don’t Expect People to Meet Your Expectations
We often get furious about the actions of other people. But, in fact, there’s no point in doing this. Reason one is you are not responsible for the actions of these people. Reason two is your anger and aggressiveness won’t change their attitude. Sometimes it’s easier to accept things as they are and keep calm. Don’t expect other people to be like you because they are not.
Aggression as a Warning Sign
Aggression can be a warning sign of some mental health problems. If this is the case, taking control of the negative emotions may be difficult or impossible. Among the mental health conditions that may have aggression as one of their symptoms, there are:
- Alzheimer’s disease;
- dementia;
- bipolar disorder;
- ADHD;
- personality disorders, and others.
If you feel you can no longer control your aggressive behavior, you should consider counseling or other medical treatment options.