Aristotle once said, “Anyone can become angry – that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way – this is not easy”.
Hands up, how many of us have felt angry lately? Come on, be honest, who has felt angry with your partner, boss, utility company or football team? That’s better, now pretty much everyone’s hand is raised!
Now we have admitted to feeling anger from time to time the key question is what we do with that feeling and whether and how we express it?
Joey Barton’s reaction during the recent Manchester City v QPR match was certainly ridiculous as he waged a one-man war on seemingly half the City team – but at least he did not let his anger simmer even if his actions were totally excessive.
Given the current business environment discretion is very often the better part of valour and it can be far easier and more diplomatic to avoid confrontation or sticking up for yourself or giving vent to your feelings at work.
Diplomatic? Certainly, but is that the best solution for your health?
As children many of us are taught either not to show our anger or, even worse, watch the results of our parents excessive tempers.
This leads to us “buttoning up” and being afraid of our own aggression and anger and being able to express it even to the extent where we are unable to feel angry even when it is totally appropriate to do so.
Some people repress their anger totally; others blow up with frightening consequences often scaring themselves and others around them.
What cannot be denied is that if you suppress your anger and hold it within you then you are running the real risk of feeling unwell and it can lead to depression, illness and exhaustion.
So what is the answer, how can you get rid of unexpressed and repressed feelings of anger that have built up with in you perhaps over a period of many years?
I teach Autogenic Therapy (AT), a powerful and medically accepted deep relaxation and stress-reducing technique that empowers you to reduce your own stress and anxiety levels easily, quickly and safely.
AT also addresses how we can acknowledge and accept the past as well as offload repressed emotions.
AT reminds you that anger is a normal, healthy and necessary emotion and that you need to give yourself permission to allow your anger to come to the surface and be acknowledged and then offloaded.
Your feelings of anger might not relate just to recent events and there could well be a long backlog of situations perhaps dating back even to your childhood where your feelings need to be acknowledged and expressed.
AT will help you to bring these unexpressed feelings to the surface and offload them safely and securely.
The result of this will be a feeling of calmness and satisfaction at dealing with “unfinished business”.
If you want to learn more about how to recognize and then offload your unexpressed and repressed feelings of anger then please go to www.howtobeatstress.co.uk or contact me at grevillewaterman@gmail.com