Anger Can Be a Superpower!

Heart-centered, sensitive people tend to not like anger. We feel things deeply and don’t want to hurt anyone. 

Also, we may have grown up in a family environment where expressing anger wasn’t okay, maybe even was dangerous. Or we may have seen anger used in destructive, hurtful ways.

All emotions come from the survival part of our brain and serve an important purpose. Anger is designed to protect us - it tells us when something isn’t good for us or our loved ones.

Ideally, when something happens that makes us angry, we 1) recognize that we feel angry, 2) analyze why, 3) take some action, and 4) let go. 

Let’s go through these steps:

1. Recognize our anger. This can be hard for kindhearted people.

We need to understand that anger is an important part of our emotional tool kit. We have a right to stand up for ourselves and our loved ones. If something makes us angry, it’s important to pay attention.

2. Analyze our anger. Unless there is an immediate threat and we need to respond right away, it’s great to pause to engage the higher parts of our brain and think about how to respond.

Writing it out can help: I’m angry right now because ______.

3. Take some action to resolve the situation. Ideally this would be talking with the other person. Use your best communication skills, such as “I” statements. Ask for what you want.

If you can’t share your feelings with the person, still find a way to get the anger out. Write it out, yell in the car, talk with a trusted friend.

4. Let it go. Our survival brain wants to go over and over what happened, to make sure we get the message that this situation is not okay. But once you’ve taken whatever action was called for, it’s great to let it go. 

When we’re angry, inflammation hormones flood the body in case we need to fight. When we move through the anger, those hormones naturally dissipate. If we get stuck in anger, those inflammatory chemicals are hard on the body.

Do whatever you can to move those stress chemicals out of your body and shift into an upbeat mood - put on some music and dance, go for a walk, even just jump up and down a little.

Then get back to your beautiful life. 

Please take good care of yourself. We need you!

I’d love to hear from you! Please send comments, questions, and suggestions to liz@happybrainlife.com.

Hugs,

Liz