Anger

Something boils within me; temperature rises rapidly. Tell-tale signs of an eruption. Pressure builds up minute by minute. If I do not do something I will surely erupt. By erupting I mean; I have to punch a wall, break something or yell at someone in order to cool off. If I do not do that…

I recently looked up the symptoms of aggressive anger and it is no surprise that I once displayed almost all of them.

First of them is bullying. Throughout elementary school I used to pick on people whom I deemed weaker (not physically, since I was and still am frail). My words were my weapons and need I say they were lethal? I underestimated the power of words; I did not know they had the power to drain life out of people. To be blunt with myself, I was a gross murderer.

Second symptom is destructiveness. I can tell you for sure that I have broken so many cups and plates. There was a time I broke an entire set of very expensive imported dishes. Moreover, my frailty did not stop me from punching and slapping some people.

I was not even aware that grandiosity was another symptom. I was an unpleasant braggart and a sore loser; meaning that I never conceded. Some of my childhood friends tell me they always let me win in games. They preferred baring the shame of defeat to my spatting.

Finally there is unpredictability. I was the kind of person whose moods oscillated at supersonic speed. Here I am laughing hysterically then the next second I am hurling insults. No wonder I had very few friends, no wonder few people dared talk to me.

I only mentioned four symptoms because if I went on, I would seem like a morally bankrupt person or a classic Mr Hyde. (Of the book Dr Jekyll and My Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. A character; Dr Jekyll separated himself into two people. He put all the bad qualities in the second person; Mr Hyde)

I lived such a terrible life but one thing for sure is that God changes people. He changed me. If you have anger issues go to Him and He will help you deal with them. Remember, anger is an emotion that everyone experiences. Secondly, not everybody expresses aggressive anger, others express passive anger and it is paramount to know how to deal with anger in whatever form that it comes in.

So how do we deal with anger? According to http://www.traciemiles.com:

1. Before letting anger erupt, we should remember that God deals with us through trials

  James 1:2-4 (MSG)  Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from
    all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true
    colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature
    and well-developed, not deficient in any way

2. Let God do His job, instead of trying to do it for Him

Romans 12:19 Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with

    everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God.

    “I’ll take care of it.” 

 

3. Don’t keep it all inside, talk it out.

   Ephesians 4:26 Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel
    for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold
    in your life. 

 

4. If you can’t change the person or the circumstances that angered you, change yourself. Anyone can return evil for evil, but it takes a courageous person in Christ to allow love to flow in his heart instead of hatred.

Psalm 107:19-20 Then you called out to God in your desperate condition; he got you out in the
    nick of time. He spoke the word that healed you, that pulled you back from the brink of death.

5. Remember that God is always there to help us deal with our anger the right way.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what 
    others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never
    let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.

Anger is one word away from danger.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/angry/