Читать книгу Managing Anger: Simple Steps to Dealing with Frustration and Threat - Gael Lindenfield, Gael Lindenfield - Страница 11

It’s hard to believe that it was only 10 years ago that I was advised (quite rightly!) that there was no mass market interest in the subject of anger. However, nowadays stories centring around the latest kind of ‘rage’ phenomena are part of the staple diet of many newspapers and TV programmes. In addition we are constantly being confronted by the rising temperature of feeling among so many groups of ‘ordinary’ people. Just think how freely the words anger or fury are seen in the headlines of features about traditionally ‘passive’ groups such as nurses, people with disabilities, and pensioners.

But I don’t believe that it is just concern and fear about these issues that is driving the growing demand for more enlightenment on managing anger. What is on the minds of most people I meet has much more to do with everyday concerns. Chiefly, they want to know how to control their own increasing inclination or tendency to be a slave to their own temper! They no longer want their anger to put pressure on their hearts, hurt their kids, ruin their relationships or threaten their careers.

This is great news for me. (And not just because it proves that there is, after all, a market for this book!) I believe that this open acknowledgement of people’s personal struggle with anger could be the first step towards two potential revolutions. First, it could radically improve the way we relate to each other – at home, at work and in the wider world. And secondly, it could revolutionize the way we manage our increasingly pressurized lifestyles.

Ten years ago, those people who are now openly asking for help might have felt hopelessly imprisoned and terrorized by their frustration and anger. They would probably have sunk into a state of chronic apathy and depression – and, in so doing, rendered themselves powerless.

One of the central messages of this book is that when anger is well managed it can do just the opposite: It can be an empowering and positive force. Under our control we can use it to energize ourselves into taking the kind of courageous and constructive action we should take if we want to have happier lives, more successful societies and a planet which will survive many more centuries.

But equally, as we are now witnessing, if we continue to lift the lid on our emotions before we have the tools and techniques to express anger safely, we risk unleashing the potentially deadly force of uncontrolled rage.

So, although I am pleased to see that in the last 10 years anger management has emerged from the shadows and is now seen as a credible way of helping ‘people with emotional problems’, it is still rarely discussed in schools, the workplace or at home. It is one of my dreams to see this happen. The alternative is to continue to leave people to learn the ‘hard way’. This hit-and-miss route is the one my own learning took. So I know first-hand what a trail of unnecessary hurt and devastated dreams it can leave in its wake. I do hope that you will find this new, revised self-help programme a much easier way to get to grips with the fire and passion inside you!