Second Term Blog Entry

 Anger: Handling a Powerful Emotion in a Healthy Way, by Gary Chapman seems to be a very insightful view into how and why anger occurs in us. He explains our physical, emotional, and even spiritual reaction to anger. He teaches the difference between definitive anger, which occurs when there is a valid injustice occuring, and distorted anger, which is a response to our bad mood, frustration, etc, and not a valid injustice. He explains the difference between explosive and implosive anger, the causes behind them, and how to appropriately deal with your anger so neither of these become detrimental. He encourages forgiveness of yourself and of others and demonstrates tactics for dealing with someone who is angry.

While I feel that Gary Chapman's heavy focus on Christianity alienates some audiences, I found his book to be helpful. It was very interesting to learn how anger occurs physically in the body and the difference between discriminate and distorted anger. I enjoyed reading the stories from different people's life experiences with anger and I especially enjoyed Chapman's story recounting his experience with an angry individual. I especially found this portion of the book helpful. It is always easy to become defensive when someone angry is confronting you and this book gave me the tools to deescalate the situation.

I feel that I have already begun to put much of what I learned into action. When I find myself angry over something, I stop and try to determine whether my anger is definitive or distorted. If it is distorted, which it usually is, I try to understand where that anger is coming from, why it is occurring, and then let it go, rather than continue to get worked up. I was also able to put into practice dealing with an angry individual. I was confronted, used Chapman's tools, and the situation quickly deescalated and led to a civilized and productive discussion. It was great! I am hoping to continue working on acknowledging and dealing with my distorted anger in a healthy manner. I may struggle with this a bit in the heat of the moment but I just have to remind myself that nothing productive will come from it and release it.