Temper, Temper – Tips for Taming Your Angry Outbursts,
Negative Thoughts and Harmful Feelings
Do people and situations at work leave you fuming? Do you sometimes wish you had a better handle on your temper?
Have you ever said something in anger that you later wished you could take back?
Anger often seems to come out of nowhere, surprising you with its intensity and leaving you unable to focus on anything
else. The truth is, you create your own anger, and you alone have the power to keep it at bay. Anger is triggered by
three factors: negative thoughts, perceived threats and physiological response.
Negative Thoughts — When an event happens, instead of putting a neutral or positive interpretation on it, you put a
negative interpretation on it. By thinking negative thoughts, you actually create your own anger. For instance, your
colleague has gone to lunch, leaving a pile of proofreading on her desk. If you think, “Great, she’s never going to get
through that pile before the end of the day, and we’ll both have to stay late to get them done tonight,” you are using
negative thoughts to create anger toward your colleague. If instead you observed the pile and thought, “Hmmm, I
wonder if she is planning to finish those today, or come in early tomorrow,” you have not created any angry thoughts
toward her. And when she comes back from lunch, you may very well learn that the pile on her desk has already been
taken care of.
Perceived Threats — Anger is triggered when you sense a threat to yourself. In the above example, you felt angry at
your colleague when you saw the proofreading, because you believed that you would be called upon to do part of her
work for her. If you just saw the pile and thought, “That’s an awful lot of proofreading to get through,” you are not
creating anger because you are not faced with a threat.
Physiological Response — Once you have a negative interpretation and sense a perceived threat during a situation, you
have an immediate physiological response. Adrenaline rushes through your body. Your heart beats faster, your
respiration increases, your blood pressure goes up, and your skin temperature rises. As a result, you are angrier than
ever, and it is difficult to calm down and think rationally.
If you put a negative interpretation on an event but do not perceive a personal threat, you will not feel angry. And if you
have an adrenaline rush without a negative thought, you may feel anxious, jealous, sad or great joy. But you will not feel
anger. The hormone adrenaline fuels your emotions. But it’s your thinking that determines what emotion you are
feeling. You may be reluctant to believe that other people are not the cause of your anger, but it’s true. Your own
thought patterns are the culprits every time!
Controlling Your Anger
If you are interested in toning down your angry responses and staying in control of your anger, you might try the
following technique. First, say to yourself thousands of times a day, “I choose not to be angry, I choose to be in control.”
Repeat it constantly, as often as you can. Within three days, you will notice a remarkable change. When a negative
thought about someone’s actions pops into your head, you will be able to replace it immediately with “I choose not to
be angry, I choose to be in control.” You will immediately cut off the negative thought, and head off your anger before
you reach the boiling point.
Another suggestion is to put an X on your calendar each time you allow yourself to feel angry with someone. Once you
see how many times a day you make yourself and others miserable because of your anger, you will be able to take
positive steps toward staying in control. Remember, anger is a choice. You can choose to control your anger, or you
can choose to let it control you.