Day 1 has come and gone and it's been a good one. Overwhelming force for anger management is working, here's how I'm working it:
- I set up a playlist on my iPod for an anger management program I picked up last year. Listened to it first thing this morning.
- Scripted a short, 30 second message that I repeated to myself over and over during the day, reminding me how important it was to keep my cool, what challenges my temper has been creating, and why I was more than capable of overcoming it.
- Focused on individual moments during the day where my better temper was improving things and savored the moments.
- Listened to the playlist again at night.
Was it a perfect day? No, I still raised my voice a few times, and had to choke back a few moments where my blood boiled. But the big difference was I could instantly tell when my temper was flaring, and instead of being reactive and at the mercy of my emotions, I had some mental ammo prepared and shot those heated emotions down quickly.
Hmm ... maybe that metaphor isn't the best one to use to describe a successful go at anger management ...
Tomorrow I'll need to make time to work in some ways to prepare for anger management at work - I don't have a bad temper at the office, but I'm finding I get frustrated and stressed very easily right now (my job has radically transformed from an enjoyable, challenging job to a paper-pushing bureaucratic routine and I'm pretty torqued about it).
Tomorrow will rock though - 'cause I'm going in all guns blazing.
Over 100 thread views and no responses ... anyone want to join me?
Keep rocking,
Dave