Thursday, August 14, 2008

Smoking volcanos



I know when Practical Man starts calling me 'Vesuvius' that I need to look at my level of anger.

Anger exists on a scale from mild irritability to full on rage and the earlier we can pick up on our levels of anger, the easier it is to express it appropriately and defuse it where necessary.

People have said to me that their anger explodes from nowhere. I used to think that myself but, with increasing awareness, you can learn, as I did, to recognise the early warning signs. For me, key signs are feeling physically tense, putting my hands on my hips and tightening my lips. The Mick Jagger manifestation of anger and it isn't pretty!

The good thing is now I recognise these early signs, I rarely get beyond irritation.

Learn to recognise your early signs. Key bodily feelings and body language are listed below.

Body feelings

Hot flushes, cold sweat, aching in muscles, visual changes, feeling very alert, adrenaline rush, increased heart rate, faster breathing, 'pumped up' feeling, tight jaw, choking feeling in thoat, feelung unreal

Body language

Pointing a finger, folding arms, rolling eyes, looking away, moving or leaning forward, pacing around, slamming objects, waving away, glaring, hands on hips, scowling, sneering, tapping fingers/foot, tight lips, pushing past people, standing over people.

1 comment:

shrink on the couch said...

Excellent post! There simply isn't enough in the everyday media about anger management -- and yes, too many people justify their aggression by claiming, "It just came on me suddenly." No, it rarely does. There's usually the slow build up, sometimes unnoticeable, but definately we can learn to pay better attention to the early warning signs. Me? I feel hot, my throat and jaw feels tight, and I jut out my chin. I've become WAY better at keeping my anger in check by paying attention and choosing to think about the situation in a less blaming way.