Why We Get Mad - How Anger Stops Stress
Posted: Tuesday, October 19, 2010
by Judy H. Wright
Artichoke Press
"I am furious at you! "You make me so mad." "I am so angry I could scream." These are all angry responses to stress in life.
While becoming mad or angry may relieve some of the pressure of the moment, anger takes a price. It can cost you relationships, employment, respect by others, and love of family. A major cost is personal for angry people; health related and perhaps even your life. Road rage is an example of allowing the stress and annoyance of being stuck in traffic to escalate into a tragedy.
Stress is a physical experience. All strong emotions such as anger, fear, excitement trigger powerful hormones which enables a threatened person to run faster, climb higher, shout louder, hit harder and do what must be done to survive a perceived attack. It is anger that is the catalyst of most great organizations that do good in the world. A mother's anger that her child has been killed by a drunk driver channels that anger into Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. It is the anger against injustice to schooling young girls in third world countries that motivates Greg Mortensen to write, "Three Cups of Tea" and to build schools that will educate them.
Disadvantages of Anger
Angry people are seen as dangerous and others like to steer-clear of them. They are handled like a loaded gun; others are aware that you could go off at any time and they are frightened to be around you. Those whom you need to have a fulfilling life start to avoid you or if they cannot physically leave, tend to guard their words and actions so as not to offend or start a argument.
Not only will angry people find more problems on the job with co-workers and bosses, but will terminated more readily. Those who work with angry individuals tend to avoid situations which may result in an angry outburst and so are reluctant to suggest new ideas or methods of doing procedures, for fear of an emotional outburst.
Physical Changes in Body and Mind
Occasional anger creates no lasting harm to your body and emotions. However; chronic, sustained and ever present anger keeps the body in a constant state of emergency and relationships in a constant state of fear. This has an effect on regular body functions such as digestion, high blood pressure, auto-immune diseases, infections,headaches and many more that keep you and those around you from enjoying life to the fullest.
Questions For You
- What are your triggers to anger?
- Can you think of other ways to vent your emotions without getting so mad?
- Are there people in your life that you avoid because they tend to handle stress with anger?
- Has anger ever motivated you to do good?
- What do you think is the best reaction when a driver is clearly angry and experiencing road rage?
Thank you so much for being part of this community of kind and thoughtful people who want respect for all. You will want to claim your free e-book on encouraging words at http://www.useencouragingwords.com.
Judy H. Wright also known as Auntie Artichoke, family relationship author and speaker. You have permission to reprint this article in your blog, e-zine or offline magazine as long as you keep the content and contact information intact. Thank You.
http://www.empowermentwithjudy.com/
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Enjoyed reading your views on anger--thanks.
As you said Judy- anger is a natural stress reliever- if we try to totally suppress it, it can back-up, and cause untold damage to our mind.- It would seem that what we must do, as with every other emotion we have- is to learn to control our anger- keeping it to a level that we may profitably express it- without causing harm to ourselves and others.- Really great article- thought-provoking and interesting- Thanks- Always- Ella
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