Here is a small piece of important information that you can use in your everyday life that will help you terrifically. When you get angry, the anger is sensed in your body, and then moves to the adrenalin gland which sits right on top of your stomach. It sends a signal through the spinal cord to the amygdala which is a part of the brain that is in the middle of the brain. The amygdala then sends a message to the hypothalamus, which is also in the middle part of the brain. The message the amygdala sends to the hypothalamus then floods the brain with anger hormone. No matter what the cause of that anger, the process between the adrenalin gland, the spinal cord, the amygdala and the hypothalamus and then the constant anger surging through the body, will only last 90 seconds unless you continue to feed the anger.
So what does that mean. Let me give you an example. Let’s say you’re driving down the street and someone cuts you off in traffic. This really makes you mad. So the process begins. The adrenalin gland sends the message to the amygdala, which sends the message to the hypothalamus which floods the brain with anger. So you keep the anger alive. You drive down the street cursing the guy in the car that has cut you off. Every time you repeat in your brain and heat how angry you are at the guy that cut you off, you repeat the cycle starting with the adrenalin gland, amygdala and hypothalamus. Half an hour later, you’re still driving down the street anger at that stranger who is now on his way to wherever he was going. He knows nothing about you or that he cut you off and even if he does, it’s out of his mind. He’s onto other things. His life has gone on. You on the other hand are still in your car upsetting your entire day over something that you cannot effect, that is finished and nothing bad happened. So what could you do instead? If you stop feeding the anger by not thinking about it over and over and cursing the guy out in your head, the anger will die after 90 seconds. If you don’t feed the anger, you can go on your way having a perfectly fine day having forgotten that this guy cut you off. It will make your day much better.
So how else might you use this information? Let’s say you have a fight with a loved one. Let’s say your anger is justified and needs to be attended to. If you say to yourself that you are angry and the anger is important, and you need to do something about it and stop feeding the anger, you can make a level headed decision about what needs to be done. Then in a calm fashion you can execute your decision. If you keep feeding the anger, what you’re probably just going to have a fight with the loved one. Fighting is healthy, but only to the point of getting a resolution. This will give you the chance for resolution.
So what does that mean. Let me give you an example. Let’s say you’re driving down the street and someone cuts you off in traffic. This really makes you mad. So the process begins. The adrenalin gland sends the message to the amygdala, which sends the message to the hypothalamus which floods the brain with anger. So you keep the anger alive. You drive down the street cursing the guy in the car that has cut you off. Every time you repeat in your brain and heat how angry you are at the guy that cut you off, you repeat the cycle starting with the adrenalin gland, amygdala and hypothalamus. Half an hour later, you’re still driving down the street anger at that stranger who is now on his way to wherever he was going. He knows nothing about you or that he cut you off and even if he does, it’s out of his mind. He’s onto other things. His life has gone on. You on the other hand are still in your car upsetting your entire day over something that you cannot effect, that is finished and nothing bad happened. So what could you do instead? If you stop feeding the anger by not thinking about it over and over and cursing the guy out in your head, the anger will die after 90 seconds. If you don’t feed the anger, you can go on your way having a perfectly fine day having forgotten that this guy cut you off. It will make your day much better.
So how else might you use this information? Let’s say you have a fight with a loved one. Let’s say your anger is justified and needs to be attended to. If you say to yourself that you are angry and the anger is important, and you need to do something about it and stop feeding the anger, you can make a level headed decision about what needs to be done. Then in a calm fashion you can execute your decision. If you keep feeding the anger, what you’re probably just going to have a fight with the loved one. Fighting is healthy, but only to the point of getting a resolution. This will give you the chance for resolution.
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