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Step 1
At the first sign of anger, start reflecting on what’s causing you stress. Dealing with anger at the get-go is a smart move to reducing anger. Personal reflection is important to anger management because figuring out why you are angry is necessary to fix the source of your stress.
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Step 2
The next step for how to reduce anger is to ask yourself if this is the right time to be dealing with anger. Would showing your anger here and now be the wise thing to do? Yes, it can be gratifying to lash out when you’re angry, but it’s more important to think about the consequences of your actions before they are carried out. There are other ways for dealing with anger besides actual confrontation with the source of your stress. You may decide that taking a walk to clear your mind and calm down is the best thing for reducing anger. Act impulsively and you may end up doing something regrettable.
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Step 3
Reducing anger and relieving stress does not mean keeping your pain bottled up. Confrontation is a healthy part of anger management. Dealing with anger successfully often does include speaking your mind. The key here is to do the previous step first, which is thinking before you act. Take a walk or do some deep breathing exercises to diffuse some of the stress and anger you’re feeling. Then go confront that person so the two of you can work toward finding a solution to the problem. (And isn’t that what you really want in the long run?)
Comments
pianistic said
on 11/29/2008 Very good advice.