Anger is something that’s tough to control. It can cause perfectly good people to do stupid things and it creates large lapses in judgment. That is why it’s good to try to control that anger. In extreme cases a good anger management class can help, but for the average person who just gets angry from time to time, I have some ideas that might be able to help cool that fire when it rises within.

Everyone has a pressure point. The talent is controlling that anger when it starts to show up. For that reason I am hoping to share some ideas of what can be done to keep that anger at bay.

Here are some of my tips that just might help you:

• Walk away from the situation. It’s pretty simple. If you’re facing a discussion that is going to turn into a screaming match rather than a conversation, walk away from it. Come back to the topic when you know that you and the other person [or people] involved will be able to talk about it calmly. If you’re being screamed at and you feel yourself getting mad, walk away until the other person calms down.
• Practice your counting skills. Which is a humorous way of saying: take a moment to count backwards from 10 or even 20, depending on how angry you’re getting, and with each number down let yourself relax. This works good if you’re reading a letter that’s making you mad, or an email. One of those situations where the thing making you mad isn’t directly in front of you. You can come back to whatever it is at a later time once you’ve cooled off.
• Distract yourself. This works with children that won’t stop begging or whining at you over one thing or another. Once it gets to be too much, tune them out. Go in the bathroom with your mp3 player. Make sure you lock the door and tell them you’ll be out in a minute. Give yourself a little distraction so you can walk back into your life a little refreshed and not feeling snappy or moody.

Those 3 things are all tried and true in my life, and I hope they can be in your life as well. After all, it’s normal to get a little upset. How you handle it is important.