According to research conducted by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, getting angry often can increase one’s risk of getting a heart attack.

So, if you find it hard to control anger outbursts, if you find it difficult to control your anger and frustration, what can you do to change the situation? How can you deal with your anger so that it will not affect your heart adversely?

In this article, I share tips with you about how to deal with anger to help you keep your temper in check.

1. Stop When You See That You Are Angry

When you feel that your temper is rising, do your best to distance yourself mentally from the situation you find yourself in.

For example, when you are arguing with someone and you realize that you start to raise your voice, pause for a moment and sigh. Then, try to think about something funny that happened to you in the past, or recall a scene from a comedy movie you loved watching.
Alternatively, think about something that will give you happiness, such as the day your wife kissed you for the first time, the day you made your first million dollars, the day your first child was born, the day you were promoted at work and so on.
Thinking about happy moments will cause the release of chemicals which will help to induce positive feelings in your body to replace the negative energy that the anger induced in your body. These positive feelings will make you happy, which will help you to calm down.
Furthermore, you may say something such as this to yourself, “I must calm down! I do not need to respond to this guy! I will wait till another time to respond to this provocation!” Try to postpone a confrontation so that you can give yourself time to get rid of your anger.
Additionally, do your best to face your emotions. Be honest about it so that you can get the co-operation and support of the other person. For example, when someone annoys you, you may say, “I am not happy about this situation right now. Let me think about it for some time.” Doing this will give you some time to look at all the implications of continuing to be angry, which will let you assess the situation from all the angles. Consequently, you will see that there are various options you can use to deal with the disagreement, which will make it easier for you to control your anger and to choose an option that will foster peace.

2. Make Sure You Get Enough Sleep Every Night

Lack of sleep can leave you stressed out which can make you irritable. Consequently, you may react in anger to situations which, ordinarily, you can just ignore or let go.

On the other hand, when you get enough sleep, you are more likely to be in a better mood most of the time and you will find it easier to ignore petty irritations, and to control negative emotions.

Therefore, discipline yourself so that you can get at least seven hours of sleep every night. Manage your time and your life well so that by 9.00 pm every day you would have finished your activities for the day. Additionally, put your phone off after 10.00 pm so that no one will disturb you, so that you can have a restful sleep.

3. Talk To Yourself In Positive Terms When You Are Annoyed

Look at situations that annoy you from a positive perspective instead of from a negative perspective. When you focus on the bright side of an the irritating situation, you will feel positive and that will make it easier for you to let go of bitterness.

On the other hand, when you focus on the negative side of annoying situations, when you remind yourself often of the hurtful words someone said to you, or when you playback events that made you angry in the past and remind yourself often of the disrespectful body language of the person or people who annoyed you, you will fill yourself with negative energy and that will feed your angry feelings, which will make you become even more bitter.

For example, if your boss shouts at you in the office and you get annoyed, instead of thinking, “I wish that man would get a car accident one of these days! He just gets on my nerves!” think something such as, “That man really annoys me. But, it is possible his wife said something to him in the house that has annoyed him. I must give him another chance. Anyway, I thank God I have this job. There are so many people who don’t have jobs and I must learn to endure the situation so that I will not get fired. After all, we may not work together forever—he may get promoted and move to another office or I will get promoted and move to another branch of this company.”

4. Try To Be Active

When you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins which can help you to calm down. Additionally, when you stretch your sinews and tendons regularly, it will give you an avenue through which you can channel your negative feelings, an avenue through which you can release negative energy such as anger, bitterness, revenge and so on so that they don’t build up in your spirit, poison your whole system, and cause you to react in anger whenever you are provoked.

5. Talk To Someone You Trust

Find a person of your same gender who has also had a problem with anger before, but who has succeeded in managing his or her anger successfully. Such a person will understand what you are going through and so will be more willing to support you to overcome your bad temper.

Additionally, he or she will find it easier to empathize with you and to give you practical tips to help you control your anger, when you go to him after you blow off your stack.

6. Meditate On Words From The Bible Often

When you are angry and you read stories of people who learned to manage their anger in the Bible, as you read words of reproof, words which show you the right way to deal with people who annoy you, and as you read the instructions in the Bible which teach how to react to annoying people and irritating situations, and as God speaks to you through His word and shows you where you went wrong when you had altercations will people, you will find it easier to look at annoying situations in a balanced way, instead of thinking that you are right and the other person is wrong, and that will help you to humble yourself, which will make it easier for you to control your anger.

Additionally, meditation will help you to boost your willpower, which will make it easier for you to discipline yourself when you are angry.

7. Listen to Spiritual Songs When You Are Angry

I suffer from an embarrassing disease which makes some people ridicule me when I go into public. That makes me angry. However, I am able to distract myself, which helps me to control my anger, when I listen to soul-inspiring gospel songs. The lyrics of the songs speak to my soul and help me to calm down because I shift my focus from the people annoying me to God and I think to myself, “It is what God thinks about me that matters and not what those people do that matters. Let me ignore them.”

So, adopt this strategy—when you get angry, switch on your smartphone, iPod, laptop, or sound system and listen to soul-inspiring or inspirational music. Focus 100% on the music. Listen to the lyrics and sing along, if you already know the song. This will help you to align your will with God so that God can influence you, through His Holy Spirit, to make you let go of the anger.

8. Pray Often

Research suggests that when a person prays, he or she can manage his or her angry feelings better. So, make it a habit to pray every morning and evening.

You may intone prayers such as this one every day, “Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You that You put all these emotions in my body to help me relate to people. I thank You that when You get angry with me when I sin against You, You forgive me. Dear Lord, I have a problem with my temper. I get angry often. Please help me to deal with this negative emotion so that I will not get a heart attack. Lord, please remind me of the things I have done to annoy You and others when I get angry so that I will learn to humble myself, which will help me to control my anger. Please touch my heart and help me to calm down when people provoke me. And please help me not to think vengeful thoughts when I am annoyed. Amen.”

Conclusion

In this article, we have learned how to deal with anger, by learning that you need to pause and try to distract yourself when you feel that you are getting angry, get enough sleep every night, talk positively to yourself when you are irritated, exercise regularly, seek the help of someone who has also had problems with his or her temper before, and also by trying to connect with the spiritual side of your being.

When you do these things, in addition to these things too, you will manage to conquer this habit.