Learning how to constructively express our anger and disappointment can be a life-long challenge. The Bible gives us accounts of times that both God and Christ exhibited furious wrath. Anger is a very useful, God-given emotion for us.
However, we are admonished not to allow sin to spawn from that powerful emotion. We can consult the Lord on alternative ways of expressing that anger more constructively. I eventually resorted to ironing, or to taking a walk to reduce the tension of angry feelings in my heart.
Journaling my feelings, allowed me to vent the stress, and helped me to reread my thoughts to find out what actually triggered that strong, negative emotion. Journaling also helps us to plan alternative behaviors that will stop this response in the future, and to pray about the situation and the people involved.
Going to our “happy place” will counterbalance the flare of temper with positive feelings in our soul. Listening to uplifting praise music can help us to change our focus about the situation. Taking time for some deep-breathing exercises will help us to relax.
Keeping a list of Biblical advice about anger to reread at these peak emotional times helps us to cool down quickly. Shooting hoops in the driveway, doing tai-chi or yoga or other exercises, kickboxing with a punching bag, jumping rope, etc. all help us to expend that negative energy in positive ways.
Then, we can sit down with those who triggered our anger and calmly explain to them why we had such a negative reaction to the situation, and to request that in the future they also alter their behavior that causes us to enlist anger for our defense mechanism.
There is always a primary emotion of fear, or disappointment, or hurt feelings, etc. that hide behind anger. Discovering this catalyst enables us to be slow to anger, and to enlist others to help us to face our underlying emotions and to express them instead of hiding behind anger.
Prayer:
Father God, remind us that negative emotions are usually red flags that warn us of some area of our life that we are neglecting. We codependently ignore our needs; or fail to obey Your Spirit, and we allow others to take advantage of us. We teach others to treat us abusively by not talking with them about the issues between us that make us feel overlooked, taken for granted, abandoned, overworked, stressed, etc.
Teach us to balance our life with more times of relaxation and pleasant activities in order to reduce stress and frustration and resentment. Help us to establish a more active prayer and Bible study component in our life to feed our spirit, strengthen our soul, and prevent our body from succumbing to stress-induced illnesses. Help us to walk in Your Spirit, so we are not controlled by our flesh (Galatians 5:15-25).
Thought for the Day:
Surrendering our negative thoughts and feelings to the Lord will allow Him to teach us more productive behavior in order to express them and remove their intensity from controlling our life; meeting our own needs and walking in the Spirit, rather than in our flesh, will also help us to function in a meek and quiet attitude that is easy to entreat.
- 1 Peter 3:4; Ephesians 4:26
