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Managing Anger Worksheet
Developed by the Counselling Service,
University of Sydney, 2007.
In getting prepared to manage your anger, it is firstly important to be aware of
the following:
1. Don’t react in anger. Take time to consider what is going on. Reacting
in anger is impulsive and very likely will not advantage you or others.
The people you are angry with often just respond to the anger and miss
the message
2. Try to dispel the thought that you will explode with anger if you do not
express it
3. Physical violence is always off
limits, as well as threats of
abandonment or separation
4. Realise that anger management is challenging and often not easy. It is
a work in progress throughout life. Slipups are the order of the day.
You can learn to do better, to have more control but it takes time and
effort.
Step 1: Developing Awareness
Step one in anger management is to develop awareness of what causes you
to react in anger, to learn your triggers. Start by keeping a journal and tracking
your triggers. Carry a small trigger book with you and as things happen that
make you angry, write them down. See if a pattern emerges and whether you
can identify certain people, events, circumstances or particular times of the
day that are triggering your anger states.
Following this, a useful thing to do is to identify what situations you can and
cannot change. By identifying what you cannot change, such as traffic jams at
certain times, you might be able to avoid this altogether, or, if you have
identified something that cannot be changed you can learn not to react. This
would be a good time to use some stress reduction techniques like slow
breathing or breath awareness techniques. It may also be necessary to
realise there are some things, situations, or people that we just have to
accept. We cannot change them, we just have to come to some acceptance
and tolerance of them.
Step 2: Gaining Balance and Control
a. A good place to begin in gaining control of our ang