Keeping A Journal
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
Journalizing thoughts and emotions is referred to by many as an important tool in anger management. (Schiraldi & Kerr, Ellis, Jones) Unlike “venting,” where the verbal and physical expressions anger tend to elevate the anger feelings themselves, the process of writing is a behavior that requires a rational involvement in order to perform the action, i.e. the very action of the writing process has a tendency to disengage and disrupt the emotional anger reflex. Moreover, by getting “out of the head” and onto the paper, the anger management client has the opportunity to review thoughts for analysis and signs of growth, or to share these writings with a mental health practitioner or anger management counselor for review and discussion. In such cases of sharing, an important element is to maintain the attitude of encouraging the client to bring a rational or alternate perspective to one’s own thoughts in a dispassionate way.
As a form of both journalizing and reducing stress, Jones, in Overcoming Anger (2004), offers the very practical advice of making lists to help prioritize critical tasks and differentiate the critical from non-critical tasks. Jones suggests an organization of tasks into the following, updated frequently:
- Critical things. Things that must be done immediately in order to forego serious consequences.
- Soon to be Critical Things. Not yet in category #1, but of a nature that they will become so if not soon dealt with.
- Normal things. Items like monthly bill paying, cleaning, that may eventually end up in #2.
- Unimportant things. Items that will never become critical.
Though the simplicity of this list almost invites dismissal, to those suffering from anger problems the day-to-day functioning within an arena of multitasking environments can be a critical factor in elevating stress and invoking the anger reflex. Like journaling, getting items on paper metaphorically gets them “out of us,” or “out of our head” which, in the case of a person struggling with anger, relieves some of the pressure in a mind cluttered with irrational emotions.
A particular side benefit is that it may help to differentiate (for the patient) any confusion about wants or desires, separating and clarifying our own wants and desires from the expectations of others, as well as removing non-critical items from a stressful mental pressure of things that need to be accomplished.