Anger is one of the most significant emotions we feel because it is one of the most euphoric emotions to release. Lets face it, it feels good to release anger even when we later regret how we went about it. Fear is often followed by anger as rapid and negative changes in stimuli tend to elicit activity within the hypothalamus, the section within the brain which controls motivated behaviors, like defensive behaviors. This can lead to further biological processes through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in neuroendocrine responses to stress.
One of the most common experience I share with others is my issues with anger. This week I would like to discuss anger and why it is important to understand it rather than try to suppress or even pretend to subdue our anger. The majority of how we deal with anger as adults has mostly to do with examples we were provided as children. Remember, children typically do what they see, not what they are told. This is true especially of parental type and role model behaviors.
In simple terms this is what happens when the mind connects to the body from perception of information through to conclusive action as a response. Our thoughts create our feelings based on how important or significant something appears to us. Feelings coupled with past experiences (expectations) will drive our actions (what we do) and those actions will give us results whether they meet our expectations or not. It is up to us to decide what is a reasonable expectation and what is not.
Realizing when we are angry about something that occurred in the past is important because we are activating biological processes designed to combat a present threat. Issues which have occurred in the past are pointless to get angry about because they cannot change. The realization of this can further infuriate us because we are now forced to admit to ourselves we cannot control an outcome in our lives, only the circumstance. The most appropriate course of action is to then realize what stimuli have and/or are causing the negative emotions and make the decision if having that stimuli in our lives is worth the pain it causes? Once negative circumstances are properly addressed we are then free to decide for ourselves once and for all, “do we want to hang on to negative emotions which drive our biological processes to make us miserable or do we want to say fuck it and let go of those emotions?” Because really, that is the only way we can reasonably address anger. Look deep into our thoughts and just say F it to the things making us angry, move on and let them go.
You’re Welcome. Internet.
External links:
Chrousos GP., Gold PW. The concepts of stress and stress system disorders. Overview of physical and behavioral homeostasis. JAMA. 1992;267:1244–1252. [Google Scholar]
Munck A., Guyre PM., Holbrook NJ. Physiological functions of glucocorticoids in stress and their relation to pharmacological actions. Endocr Rev. 1984;5:25–44. [Google Scholar]
