Anger Management

It is often said that an angry man shuts his eyes and opens mouth. It points to two implications of anger. One is that it temporarily blinds us by making us emotional. For a brief spell, we are under the influence of that emotion. Secondly, we become disoriented, so our ability to think, reason and act wisely is interrupted. We are likely to talk rubbish and mess up things.

Anger can play havoc on relationships, spoil great opportunities that come our way and create new problems. Above all, it causes a lot of our precious time to be wasted. If we are keen to improve ourselves in terms of our quality as human beings, one of the things that need to be given top priority is the art of anger management. There are several techniques suggested for anger management, the most common among them being number counting, though the efficacy of these methods varies from individual to individual depending upon their understanding of such methods. By counting numbers, even if we are able to get back to the senses, the problem does not end there. Since anger is a recurring phenomenon, we would do well to consider long-term remedies so that we may have fewer occasions that require us to count numbers or run to the dance floor. We can do so by attending to the roots of the problem.

It is plain common sense that anger is a by-product of inefficiency or an assumed sense of powerlessness. When we face a problem for which we are unable to find a solution or when we have to face a question for which we do not know the answer, the spontaneous human reaction is anger. We use it as form of escapism when answers elude us. So we know now what anger management must be able to accomplish. On the one hand, it should help us to identify the issues over which we feel apparently helpless. On the other, we must be able to work out feasible solutions for these issues.

A more dangerous application of anger is in psychological game play, where it is used as a platform to initiate ulterior transactions. It is necessary to immunize ourselves from that trap and it is possible only through self-awareness. Being angry or feigning anger to exercise control over others is an indication of an immature mind and such behaviour poorly reflects on one's personality. Our individual as well as collective development and prosperity are the functions of an atmosphere that is free from fear and inspired by an open mind. Anger is undesirable in both ways for it promotes fear and discourages open mind.