Anger reactions

Anger is one of the four basic emotions: anger, fear, happiness and sadness. Emotions are a natural part of human nature; therefore, we don't want to deny our emotions. At the same time, we don't want our emotions to rule us. Like all human qualities, too much or too little of any emotion becomes a problem.

Anger reactions are quite common. We've all experienced anger both instantaneous and long-term. For example, a person cuts you off while you're driving or your partner does something that annoys you or technology isn't functioning properly. We can easily justify our anger in almost any situation but there's more to the emotion than we know.

An emotional reaction is complicated since it is a part of human nature. People are not simple; they are not always consistent and often are full of contradictions. When we add emotions to these human patterns, the result is highly complex. The complexities are often not considered by the person and only the expressed emotion is experienced.

Anger is often triggered by an external event or a person but it also can be triggered by an internal conflict within someone's psychology. Regardless of how anger is triggered, the emotion is always psychological. So, after experiencing anger, it can be extremely beneficial to try to determine the psychology associated with the anger reaction. Asking the following question is important: What in my psychology is associated with my anger? This question is more important than asking: What, or who, in my life caused my anger?

If another person's behavior triggers your anger, then you can bet that something in your psychology is related to the trigger. For example, perhaps a friend always challenges your decisions, which triggers your anger. This could be related to your experiences with a parent who never let you make decisions for yourself. Or, maybe there is a person who behaves inconsiderately or is unjust with respect to other people and you feel anger.

Feeling the anger is fine but searching for the source of your anger in your psychology makes the anger reaction and experience more meaningful, promoting a greater consciousness (self-awareness in this case). Of course, life and people will do things that anger us, but, unfortunately, most people do not take the time to consider the internal psychological elements in their anger reactions.

It is essential to realize that when we're triggered, feeling the anger and attempting to search our psychologies for internal answers leads to a greater consciousness and enhances the lives of people around us.