C-Force: Managing Anger Is a Much-Needed Skill

Back in November 2023, I wrote a column about how anger has emerged as a major response to the craziness and stress that seems to surround us in today's world. It feels as if anger has all too often become a fuel for dysfunctional, sometimes hateful behavior.

As a martial artist with a lifetime of experience practicing emotional control, I learned early on that high among the skill sets required for success is the ability to control anger. It is time we make learning and implementing ways to control our anger a primary public health goal.

Each year, Gallup puts out an annual Global Emotions Report, based on comparative emotional data from more than 100 countries. It is designed as an update on the negative and positive daily experiences of people. As I reported back in 2023, in 2021, the world saw an increase in negative experiences, which had been growing for years. In 2021, it reached the "highest rate researchers had measured in the 17 years they had been conducting the research," says Gallup.

According to a June 2023 Gallup news report, "the well-documented global rise in negative emotions such as stress, sadness, anger and worry stalled last year, keeping Gallup's Negative Experience Index unchanged." It continues to remain in a heightened negative state. This sounds a lot like a "new and disturbing normal" to me.

As I have reported in the past, in 2023, researchers at Texas A&M University published a research paper titled "Anger Has Benefits for Attaining Goals." In an interview with The New York Times, Heather C. Lench, lead author of the study and professor in psychological and brain sciences at Texas A&M, says, "anger is (often) helpful at motivating people to overcome obstacles and meet their goals than (being in) a neutral emotional state."

"Anger can have a positive physical effect in that it can help motivate you to get up and do something, "writes Times health reporter Gina Cherelus in a 2022 report. "When we're angry and aroused, our brains are primed for fast reactions. If there's danger or a social threat that triggers an angry state, we are more likely to act on it. ... In that agitated state, we're less likely to make good judgments."

So, should we embrace our anger? Before we get too carried away with this concept, it is important to acknowledge that not all forms of anger are useful for achieving your goals. "Venting can feel good, but it doesn't generally produce solutions," writes Times reporter Christina Caron. She adds that we should not be celebrating anger unless the necessary work has been done to control it. Anger can also lead to rage and what is known as "Intermittent explosive disorder."

Reported by U.S. News in December, "three-quarters of Americans plan to start the New Year with a resolution to be more healthy, including 28% who want to focus on improving their mental health, a new survey has found."

Shmuly Yanklowitz, author of numerous books on ethics, in a January opinion piece in the Chicago Tribune suggested that the issue of anger makes for a good resolution. "There is so much anger, and the stakes are so high with what we do with it," he writes.

"Your anger is wise. So, what can you do, if expressing your anger is risky and repressing your anger is no better? Relate to it. Befriend it. Let it go, but not before it teaches you something about yourself or about the world. Try to understand it. ... Ask your anger about the hurt from which it is truly coming and then look for ways to address that hurt. Your anger is your partner, not your nemesis, in this spiritual investigation."

Let us also not forget all the ways in which anger can be bad for your health. "You might often hear a person in an angry state say or do something that they don't really like," says Dr. Royce Lee, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Chicago, in a New York Times report. "And when they're not angry they will regret it and wish they didn't do that." Adds Dr. Orli Etingin, a hematology specialist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, anger and chronic stress cause our memory to not "work very well."

According to Dr. Matthew Burg, a clinical psychologist and professor at the Yale School of Medicine, small changes in your routine can help mitigate those health risks. "It's almost impossible to avoid feelings of anger, but meditation, breath work, fitness and getting a full night's rest are all helpful ways to manage anger. ... If we all grew up understanding that, we probably wouldn't be as stressed and angry as we are," he says.

"Managing your anger is not about destroying it. You are going through life together, and you should be in charge, benefiting from its wisdom and its strength, but you should not be controlled by it," says Yanklowitz.

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Follow Chuck Norris through his official social media sites, on Twitter @chucknorris and Facebook's "Official Chuck Norris Page." He blogs at http://chucknorrisnews.blogspot.com. To find out more about Chuck Norris and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.