Are you the kind to get angry over someone cutting you off in the traffic? Or does your blood boil when certain people in your household don’t do their chores?
You may want to throw yourself on the ground and throw a tantrum, like most three-year-olds do when Mum won’t buy them lollies at the supermarker, but that doesn’t really fly when you’re a full-grown adult.
Although these issues can be minor, an overreaction can sometimes have significant outcomes. In a recent Reddit thread, dozens of “calm people” shared their techniques on how they calm their anger, and there was plenty of good advice to be found.
1. Recognise anger isn’t helpful.
“You can motivate yourself to change without anger, simply by recognising an issue or dissatisfaction with something and changing what needs to be. The anger isn’t helping and it can be done without it.”
2. Hug it out.
“It may sound stupid, but I get a hug from someone I love.”
Watch: Meditation can be helpful. Try this routine from Paper Tiger. (Post continues after video.)
3. Think rational.
“If I find myself getting angry I try to stop it by using a short moment to think rationally about the current situation, which usually works.”
4. Snap… using a rubber band.
“I started wearing a rubber band on my wrist and snapping myself really hard when I started getting angry. It takes a while to get into the habit of doing it right away,” said one Redditor.
“Eventually, you become more aware of what’s making you lose your temper and why. It gets easier and easier to divert that negative attitude because you’re consciously thinking about the process rather than reacting instinctively.”
5. Fume all alone.
“Take a breath, then go fume on my own for a while. I try to word the reasons I’m absolutely in the right in my head, and if I don’t end up thinking ‘Wait, I actually kind of deserved that. They were right’ or something along those lines, I know that at some point I’ll inevitably reach the ‘This is stupid. Why am I wasting my time on this?’ stage.”
