Working with Anger

Anger is an important emotion. It tells us when our boundaries have been crossed, it tells us about our values and our pain, it tells us about our sense of control and loss of control. 

Often, we are taught that anger is a bad thing to experience, or that we should hide it. But anger (emotion) does not need to mean aggression (behaviour). Through developing our understanding of self, we get to choose our behaviour in response to our emotions. There are so many ways to express anger, so here’s a few of my favourites:

😣 Destroy a bunch of paper. Make a mess! Rip it, screw it up, throw it across the room. Let yourself destroy something safely. Letting expressive movement demonstrate your anger can be really cathartic.

😤 Yell into a pillow. Or whisper-yell in the bathroom. Let all that emotion through your breath and through your body. Let yourself feel it and know that you are angry.

🏃‍♀️‍➡️ Exercise. A workout, a run, a quick swim - let your body use all that anger-generated energy it holds.

📝 WRITE YOUR RAGE! Journal in all caps! Write a list of all the people who are stressing you out right now. Journal about all that stuff from the past that it’s hard to let go of. Get it out of yourself, and onto the page. Or speak it aloud to friends or a therapist.

🤔 Make choices. If you’re regularly getting overwhelmed, maybe something needs to change. Do you need to change what you’re doing, or leave your partner or job? Reflect on it, and make your choices: go to therapy, change your life balance, step back from something that’s not good for you. 

In therapy, we might sit with anger regularly. We can explore the anger that you might hold, where it came from, and what you feel it means about you and the people around you. You might be afraid to let it through, but we can start to explore feeling the emotion and understanding it.

If you’re looking to work with a therapist, I offer a free 15 minute intro session where you can get to know me and work out if I’m the right practitioner for you. To learn more and book online, you can find me at cosytherapy.com

Warmth and wishes ✨

April 😊