Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Shutterstock/Oleksandr Berezko

Tips to quell anger when you feel it rising

From exercise and self-reflection to counting your breaths, we found some tips that might help with managing your anger.

FEELING AGITATED, ANNOYED and angry? It can be difficult to bring yourself back when feelings of anger arise, but we thought we’d find advice that could help bring you to a calmer disposition.

From yoga to mindfulness and cognitive studies we have some tips that might help quell that angry feeling.

1. Acknowledge that you are angry

shutterstock_336079358 Shutterstock / wavebreakmedia Shutterstock / wavebreakmedia / wavebreakmedia

Mindfulness teaches us to focus on the present moment – which includes acknowledging how we are feeling in that moment.

Often angry feelings can come out in a physical form – clenched jaws and muscles, stomach ache, rapid heart rate and feelings of shaking or trembling.

Denying the emotion isn’t going to make you feel any better or improve your physcial and mental well being.

Being aware of it through practices like mindfulness and meditation can help you take a step back and understand the reason why you are angry.

This might give you a different perspective to the situation and let you come to terms with it.

 

2. Get Active (but not in anger)

shutterstock_651777694 Shutterstock / Syda Productions Shutterstock / Syda Productions / Syda Productions

According to the American Psychological Association (APA) regular exercise can help you decompress and burn off extra tension and reduce the stress that could be the cause for some anger.

Though a study suggests that particular kinds of physical venting – like punching a boxing bag while picturing your adversary’s face – will likely make you hold onto your angry feelings and not deliver the catharsis you might be expecting.

Stick to less emotional heated exercises. Some yoga exercises can ease you into different positions that relieve stress and quietens the mind.

Running, a brisk walk or even simple activities like mowing the lawn can also help.

 

3. Focused breathing

shutterstock_516844324 Shutterstock / tache Shutterstock / tache / tache

Both psychologists and mediation practitioners focus on breath as a key to becoming calm. Practice taking slow controlled breath that you picture coming up from your belly rather than your chest.

From a meditation and mindfulness perspective, this shift of focus can let you explore the reasons for your anger and help you to overcome/accept its reality in a calm measured way.

It can give you the space you need to understand the situation without emotion dictating your choices.

Counting your breathes can also help to calm you down.

 

4. Laugh

shutterstock_504879760 Shutterstock / DenisProduction.com Shutterstock / DenisProduction.com / DenisProduction.com

According to this study laughing releases “positive” hormones called cortisol and epinephrine that make humans feel better.

So next time you are in a situation that could make you angry, perhaps consider the funny side to it?

 

5. Keep an ‘anger’ diary

shutterstock_695459560 Shutterstock / JivkoM Shutterstock / JivkoM / JivkoM

Harry Mills, Ph.D and author of “The Anxiety Factor: The Role of Anxiety in Health and Performance” suggests writing down every time you feel angry and asking yourself questions about why you felt that way.

You can be as detailed as you like, giving the emotion a scoring system and even describing the way it physically made you feel.

This can assist with locating different anger triggers you might have and understanding where the feeling is coming from. It also can be informative in highlighting ways you might be getting angry for unjustified reason and to understand how to see situations and circumstances from a different point of view.

6. Don’t dwell – just let it go

shutterstock_772687060 Shutterstock / Billion Photos Shutterstock / Billion Photos / Billion Photos

Going over the same incident that made you angry again and again is unproductive especially if it is a situation that is long in the past and has already been resolved.

Letting go is a healthy way to get passed this. A recommendation  is is to focus your attention on things you appreciate about the person or situation that made you feel angry.

 

7. Get creative

shutterstock_761513044 Shutterstock / GOLFX Shutterstock / GOLFX / GOLFX

According to the NHS being creative can release tension and reduce feelings of anger.

Making music, painting, dancing and writing are all things you can do to help you calm and reduce your level of anger.

 

8. Change your environment and take some time

shutterstock_149631749 Shutterstock / Capricorn Studio Shutterstock / Capricorn Studio / Capricorn Studio

The APA suggests that sometimes your immediate surroundings can make you irritated and angry. Your responsibilities can make you feel trapped.

Taking a break from your environment and giving yourself some alone time can help you digest your thoughts and prepare yourself for what’s next.

Even if it is only 10-15 minutes, the impact of having personal time away from your normal surroundings can results in better mental health.

 

9. Change your attitude

shutterstock_699287899 Shutterstock / Eugenio Marongiu Shutterstock / Eugenio Marongiu / Eugenio Marongiu

Did that bus come late just to annoy you? Is this situation you are angry about really that important?

Through a technique known as cognitive restructuring you can replace unhelpful thoughts and negative mindsets with more understanding and reasonable ones.

Using a bit of logical thinking also helps when you find yourselves in a situation that usually makes you angry.

10. Talk to someone

 

shutterstock_338727686 Shutterstock / Rawpixel.com Shutterstock / Rawpixel.com / Rawpixel.com

Taking ownership of your feelings and letting someone know how you feel are perfectly healthy things to do.

Talk slowly and clearly and explain why you are angry. Making requests rather than demands or threats is important during this process so you don’t make the other people/person you might be showing your anger to feel like it is about them.

Seeking out a friend or professional help are also ways you can come to terms with your anger and understand it more.

Try these tips and see how they do in helping you calm down and be less angry in the new year.

Read: ’Anger management classes could help stem violence among young men’

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
19 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen Devlin
    Favourite Stephen Devlin
    Report
    May 13th 2016, 10:47 PM

    Probably has 6000 previous convictions .. QUICK .. Someone hand him a 2 year suspended sentence

    221
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Assel Dannourah
    Favourite Assel Dannourah
    Report
    May 14th 2016, 7:33 AM

    manslaughter conviction looming

    23
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute screanire
    Favourite screanire
    Report
    May 13th 2016, 11:56 PM

    It’s got to such a ridiculous situation at this stage that I’m actually (in a weird way), rooting for the Hutch faction. I’d prefer if the Gardai started with the vile Kinahan ‘gang’ first. Once they are locked up, lock up the Hutch associates then.

    133
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Murphy
    Favourite Mary Murphy
    Report
    May 14th 2016, 12:45 AM

    Yea and Gerry the formal criminal Hutch too.

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seamus McSpud
    Favourite Seamus McSpud
    Report
    May 14th 2016, 7:19 AM

    I say a mass celebrity death match out of the way in some warehouse in Dublin.

    18
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seamus McSpud
    Favourite Seamus McSpud
    Report
    May 14th 2016, 7:24 AM

    These 2 gangsters were on the front page of every newspaper a few weeks back and only now are arrested … I can only assume they have been in a rat hole somewhere because they haven’t been shot already.
    As I write I’m concluding he probably handed himself in as it’s hard to imagine the guards find him before the hutches

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cal McLaughlin
    Favourite Cal McLaughlin
    Report
    May 13th 2016, 10:36 PM

    Great news.
    Important news.
    Hopefully this breakthrough will crack the case open and the people who organised the shootings will be brought to justice.

    66
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Neil79
    Favourite Neil79
    Report
    May 14th 2016, 12:10 AM

    Well done to the boys in blue

    44
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ian Phillip Creaner
    Favourite Ian Phillip Creaner
    Report
    May 13th 2016, 10:45 PM

    Da fugh was dat?

    41
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jamie McCormack
    Favourite Jamie McCormack
    Report
    May 14th 2016, 12:39 AM

    Alan Kelly is the reason we should abandon politics.

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jamie McCormack
    Favourite Jamie McCormack
    Report
    May 14th 2016, 12:44 AM

    Ah I’m only joking, but how do you stop megalomaniacs from coming to power, or are you supposed to just roll with it.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute paddy
    Favourite paddy
    Report
    May 13th 2016, 10:40 PM

    Wombs of the world untie!

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dj
    Favourite Dj
    Report
    May 13th 2016, 10:37 PM

    Two of them might as well been doing a wedding shoot.

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Wesley Preston
    Favourite Wesley Preston
    Report
    May 14th 2016, 12:45 AM

    Loads of commotion on the N32 this evening. Thought it was another shooting

    23
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Robbie Holland
    Favourite Robbie Holland
    Report
    May 14th 2016, 1:48 PM

    Seen that myself loads of Garda surrounded at the side of the road, looked very dodgy.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Conroy
    Favourite David Conroy
    Report
    May 14th 2016, 3:19 PM

    There were about 14 armed Gardai and they carried out the arrest with precision timing. If the bad guys had have produced a bicycle pump it would have saved the State a fortune ! Job well done !

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Meehawwl O'Buachailla
    Favourite Meehawwl O'Buachailla
    Report
    May 14th 2016, 12:16 AM

    I wonder was it the cross-dresser?

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave
    Favourite Dave
    Report
    May 14th 2016, 12:21 AM

    Yes. It’s the guy who started all this.

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute paddy
    Favourite paddy
    Report
    May 13th 2016, 10:37 PM

    Yeah right

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dubabroad
    Favourite Dubabroad
    Report
    May 13th 2016, 10:51 PM

    +234 area code.. Not dodgy at all, must be legit

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute meerkat
    Favourite meerkat
    Report
    May 13th 2016, 11:25 PM

    Probably got a shot on winning streak

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave
    Favourite Dave
    Report
    May 13th 2016, 11:45 PM

    Tough luck Patrick.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bill Board
    Favourite Bill Board
    Report
    May 14th 2016, 9:08 PM

    Young Patrick hutch arrested his brother is the deceased brother Gary “2 KNOWN POLICE INFORMERS” + there father so 3!!! The other arrested was aka MAGO gatley a man who could not leave the hutch faction because they knew he had police informed for previous years and they were going to expose them as a known police informer!!!! Time for the old hutch to get onto there HANDLERS to get the lads out of this

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute james mc donagh
    Favourite james mc donagh
    Report
    May 14th 2016, 11:32 AM

    Great news. Take everyone of those rats off the street,, either in cuffs or a bag…

    5
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds