Here are five ways you can take control of your anger and your life. You do not have to be a victim of your emotions any longer. Follow these steps to finding inner peace through a variety of easy-to-do exercises.
1. Start a journal – write out your feelings and then release them. Once you get them on paper, say to yourself that you’re moving on from this emotion and onto better ones. Usually, just getting it out of your mind and onto paper will help you release it from your mind.
2. Focus on breathing – doing some breathing exercises will help you to master your calmness. When you can’t control a situation, then control your breathing. Force yourself to breath in for specific counts and holding your breath for specific counts. It’s important to hold your breath some then let it out. The tension you feel from the “angering situation” will be released with the breathing tension.
3. Take up a form of physical exercise – some people, myself included, were born with an abundance of energy. When this excess of energy isn’t used for positive endeavors, it can get pent up and explode at a moment of least mental resistance. A.k.a. We lose control and get angry. That pent-up energy pours out in the form of yelling and screaming and hitting things over minute situations. Relieve this stress and built up tension by getting out and exercising. Daily moderate to intense exercise will take the bite out of your bark. I took up running and pushed my anger out through my pounding of the pavement and not on my children. Take if from me, when you’re physically depleted, it’s tough to get angry. It takes too much energy.
4. Visualize better encounters – (see yourself acting in a loving and peaceful way). Practice the art of visualization. Take the time to imagine yourself having peaceful and happy encounters in situations that normally lead to you’re going over the edge. It takes some practice but the more you see yourself doing it in your mind, the more you’ll be able to model and act out that practiced you. Do this when you are feeling good or just before going to bed and upon rising in the morning. I found that just a minute of visualization before bed and before starting my day got me to that place of calm much quicker.
5. Start affirming your improvement – affirmation or mantra – Using the visualization technique combined with a new statement about how you are improving yourself and releasing your anger go hand-in-hand. The more you get your body and mind miming the way you would like to be, the quicker those changes will occur within you. So repeat daily statements, like, “I’m getting better and better and being happy throughout the day” or “I can see an improvement already in my mood. I’m feeling good today” or “I just love this peaceful feeling. It really is the true me.”
Combine with actually seeing yourself acting out these statements and writing them down as if they actually occurred in your journal will lead you to the path of becoming Angry-Free.