Anger~Part 1

Hello everyone!!

So I am going to tell you a story

Once, there was a son who had a very bad temper, and he sincerely wanted to improve. His dad told him, “If you want to improve your temper, then every time you get angry, I want you to take a nail and hammer it in the big tree in our backyard.”

So that’s what the son did. At the beginning, he’d put 5 or 6 nails in each day. After a few days, he was startled at how many nails he’d already put into the tree. He thought, “I had no idea my temper was this bad!”

The son then worked hard to not get angry. After a period of hard work, he was able to have days where he didn’t get angry at all. Then, his dad told him, “For each day you don’t get angry at all, you can remove one nail from the tree.”

The son was very happy to hear this. He worked hard, and over a long period of time, finally came the day where he could remove the last nail from the tree. He told his dad proudly, “I did it! That’s the last nail gone!”

The dad replied, “Even though you removed the last nail, what happened to the tree trunk?”

The son realized, “There’s so many holes.”

“Can the tree ever return back to the way it was before you put the nails in?” asked the dad.

“No.” replied the son.

“And so it’s the same with people.”

By now , everyone might have guessed the topic really right.

So topic is 'Anger '

Anger ~ an inevitable emotion

So I don't have to ask now that how many face anger ?! Because everyone faces it at some point of day . Its a primary emotion used to express displeasure , disregard .

Its also a way of releasing a negative emotion towards a situation , person, event , etc

For eg: You are assigned a work by your mom 3-4 days ago , and you still have not done it, so I don't have to describe situation you are going to face :) 😂

So this is about anger , and it's example in our day to day life

Brain working in the process of anger

Have you wondered what causes anger ? How does neurological forces act on brain during anger process?

With the goal of our dialogue being to figure out how to better deal with anger, let’s take a look at how anger happens inside of our brain.

◆ Parts of brain involved and it's description:

•The cerebral cortex (cortex):-

°It is the outer portion of the brain and is divided into lobes.

°It is the thinking part of the brain where logic and judgment reside.

°Think of the cortex as the strategy center of the brain.

The emotional center of the brain -The limbic system.

° It is located lower in the brain and is considered to be more older (first to develop in human species) primitive , more dominating than the cortex which is a thinking zone

•Within the limbic system is a small structure called the ~ amygdala, a storehouse for emotional memories. 

°This does a work of putting 'oil in the fire'😂  

°It is also the area of the brain responsible for our “fight or flight” reactions, our natural survival instincts.

 When experiencing anger....,

 

When someone is experiencing and expressing anger, he or she is not using the thinking (cortex) part of the brain, but primarily, the limbic center of the brain.

The data coming in from the world around us passes through the amygdala where the decision is made whether to send the data to the limbic or cortex area of the brain. If the incoming data triggers enough of an emotional charge, the amygdala can override the cortex, which means the data will be sent to the limbic system causing the person to react using the lower part of the brain.

During an overriding event, the amygdala goes into action without much regard for the consequences (since this area of the brain is not involved in judging, thinking,  or evaluating). This reactive incident has come to be known as an amygdala hijacking.

When the amygdala is hijacked, a flood of hormones are released that cause physical and emotional alarm.  A surge of energy follows, preparing the person for the fight or flight response.  The impact of this hormonal flush last for several minutes during which time the person is usually out of control and may say or do things he or she will later regret, when the thinking part of the brain reengages.

Further, an additional longer-lasting hormone is released., and its impact can last for several hours to several days.

On an average, it can take 20 minutes for a person who has experienced an angry state of arousal to calm , to move from functioning from emotional area to thinking area of the brain .

Root Cause of Anger:

If you have too much of anger , that means  your desires /expectations have been obstructed .

Situation can or cannot be the main reason of your anger. Most of the times the main reason of your anger is within you - i.e your desires /expectations.

For eg: you are talking to a person politely and the person front is not giving you same polite feedback you get angry .

Because it's your expectation that you are talking politely so even he should  .So here this desire got obstructed hence you  experience anger.

 

This is what I feel is the reason/ root cause of anger .

I believe you all have got enough clarity on  "Anger" . 

In this blog we talked about :

•about anger ,

•it's process happening in the brain and 

•its root cause.

In my next blog I'll be writting about effective techniques of Anger management, 

So Stay tuned!!

This is Kshitija , concluding with a promise to come up with more new blogs 

Thank you!!

~Kshitija