Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Everyday Anger is Normal

Although not new to blogging, I am new to blogspot - my other host seems to have a lot of technical difficulties and it was making me angry... just kidding. I am a counselor/coach with too many years experience counselling and more recently coaching "angry" people and showing them how to make their anger work for them instead of against them. It seems to me that people like to look at this subject from a distance, as long as it doesn't relate directly to them. In fact, I have observed when people see my book cover, some of them take two steps back because its as though the anger is contagious. The truth is that anger is part of every day life. When that jerk cuts you off on the highway - you feel angry! Face it - cause it ain't going anywhere.

Think of it this way - when you squeeze an apple, apple juice comes out. When you squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out. When circumstances squeeze you - certain emotions come out (happiness, joy, anger, fear, sadness, whatever). That's because they were inside of you already, just waiting for an opportunity to be used! I think it's time to drop the stigma associated with anger and realize that anger is part of the human existence; we just need to learn how to express it appropriately. Tomorrow I'll be speaking to a women's business group about how anger shows up at work, and how it can negatively impact human productivity. Once it's over, I'll be back to share my thoughts on the experience.