Anger is a natural, emotional expression of the human body much like every other emotion, as a reaction to an unwanted stimulus. It is important to recognize that it is the body’s way of telling that there is something wrong and needs to be altered. But unlike other emotions, because of its destructive nature, one […]
Anger is a natural, emotional expression of the human body much like every other emotion, as a reaction to an unwanted stimulus. It is important to recognize that it is the body’s way of telling that there is something wrong and needs to be altered. But unlike other emotions, because of its destructive nature, one needs to pay careful attention to it.
When you get angry for some reason, there are drastic changes in the body both physically and mentally. In the physical conditions, there is a surge of hormones that prepares the body into a fight mode that potentially makes your blood rush into the muscles for attacking and the mind blocks off rational reasoning to prepares itself into a defence mode that only acts upon emotional reasoning.
To explain this, let’s say you and your friend get into an argument. At this point of time, he/she says something very insulting that it hurts your feelings badly, here instead of trying to sort the problem your mind goes into a defence mode (emotional response) to retaliate than to sort out the problem in anger. Your reasoning (rationality) of him/her being a close friend for years will be blinded with emotions to attack and not think of the underlying reasons or the solutions to the problem.
Under such situations taking decisions will also not lead to a good profitable result. In any good decisions, there needs to be an element of logic and rational conclusions to arrive at a solution. But when is one with anger, only logical reasoning will be available to deduce the solution where the consequences to the decisions are not properly analysed. In a normal situation, a person analyses all the different paradigm of possibility before arriving to a conclusion.
The same is applied to other functions like sending an e-mail, driving, cooking and others. Under such situations, you may know and follow the steps to reach your goal but safety and precautions are completely neglected. This is the reason why many get injured while cooking if they are angry. Thus, while making decisions being angry is not advised as there is an impairment in judgement.
When you are angry, it is also advised that you not to go to sleep nor eat food. The subconscious mind during sleep enhances the emotions of the state in which the body had last been before sleep. This will amplify the anger in sleep and make you act out later. At the same food eaten will not be easily digested as the body tries to push the blood from the abdomen to the hands and legs to run or fight.
So, the best possible ways to come out of such a situation is to do some breathing exercise and by simply walking away from the situation. Breathing helps the body and the mind to relax instantly and brings stasis in the mind to make rational decisions. Other techniques include listening to your favourite music, taking a cold shower or drinking water helps in reducing the effects of anger, in short term. Mind-body practises help to manage anger in the longer run, that includes practising yoga and mindfulness.
So, the next time you are in an urge to make a decision when you feel angry, remember the decision made is based only logic and has a high chance of failing without any reasoning.
“You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger”
– Buddha
Writer: Manojj Dhinakaran
