Anger is an instinctive human emotion, a warning sign that something is not ‘OK’, you are being blocked in your goals or your beliefs are under threat. Anger is natural, ranges from annoyance to deep rage, manifested in body and mind and filtered through the soul. There are many triggers for anger that are universal to mankind, but some are soul based, that part of you that is unique, where your character, cultural experiences or religious beliefs and feelings come together.
It is your soul, your unique internal moral compass that can trigger anger, an instinctive emotion. Perceptions of injustice such as a murder are universal whereas others can be personal to your experiences and your character. Should your soul, your unique self, be blocked and never allowed to express itself, it also leads to anger.
As humans, we all have a set of instinctive universal emotions, that have been hard wired over thousands of years of evolution. Whatever your culture, experiences or moral beliefs, certain universal factors will trigger anger, an instinctive emotion evolved to drive your brain and body to action instantaneously, to keep yourself and others safe and happy. Being debased, bullying, witnessing violence to loved ones, experiencing violence against you, sets off your anger impulse. Anger such as that of human rights activists against injustice can lead to positive change for society. Anger purely based on the personal ‘ego’ when all others are perceived as wrong regardless of the circumstances can be interpreted as arrogance. Anger expressed in the form of physical or verbal violence at a weaker subject is difficult to condone.
As society has evolved, the soul or self and subsequent hot buttons for instinctive emotions have become more complex. Communities have become mixed, religious, and moral views are not so uniform. We all have character types, some feel emotion more than others, simply as part of their physiological make-up. Thus, it is that unique part of you, your experiences, your character, belief system, your soul that acts as a strong filter for your instinctive anger. You cannot control how you feel an instinctive emotion, but you can control how you act on that anger and the impact it has on yourself and others.
Your soul or your ‘self’ needs expression or freedom to flourish. You may find yourself in situations that are frustrating where you are unable to express yourself freely or you are inhibited in what you think is right, or wish to do, this can over the long term make you angry, as the frustration grows to rage at the smallest of things. Understanding the emotion within you is the first step to having and keeping a balanced life.
How your soul filters different types of anger
Anger is an instinctive emotion, you cannot control how you feel it but you can control how you act.
The first step is to understand the different types of anger reactions:
- Passive Aggression – used to avoid confrontation, you become silent with the target of your anger, sulk and procrastinate while pretending everything is OK. This can be annoying to others. However, it can be useful to take time out when you are in a heightened state of aroused anger. Instinctive reactions can cause damage. However, allowing anger to fester in your soul without expression, in the long term can also damage you. All the related stress hormones fester in your body also creating ill health. Frustration over time can lead to explosive rage, which will be damaging to others.
- Open Aggression is complete confrontation when you act on anger, fighting, attacking, accusing, letting your body launch into physical or verbal attacks on the target of your anger or yourself. Reacting immediately does not give your mind time to process your instinctive emotion, to ask yourself why, to be sure that you are right in your sense of injustice. Though ignoring anger long term is unhealthy to the body, hitting out can be equally disruptive.
- Assertive Anger is when you can express your anger in a measured way which limits the damage to others. Understanding your triggers, understanding your soul, and finding ways to express yourself to others.
Anger arises when our goals or beliefs are blocked.
Anger is a basic human emotion triggered when our goals or beliefs are blocked. We all feel it, wherever we come from. For a happy balanced life, the first step is to understand our emotions, our triggers, practical steps to take in order to avoid destructive situations.
For more information about Anger you might be interested in these other articles:
What is Anger? Understanding Anger/Anger Explained
How does anger effect the body?
How does anger affect the mind?
How does anger affect the soul?
What hormones are connected to anger?
Understand your soul and how your anger is triggered
We no longer live in a society where we simply must survive or that has community structures set in clear religious beliefs. Your soul, that part of you that is unique, where your character, cultural experiences or religious beliefs and feelings come together can be a very strong trigger for your anger. It is when your unique beliefs are threatened that you can feel anger. Understanding this process and relating it to those around you can help you manage harmonious relations.
Anger is the warning sign for a compromised soul
Much or your reasoning as to good and bad is based on your education, your moral beliefs. These beliefs can be religious, in which case, your moral actions and thoughts are believed to feed your soul, which in turn will live on eternally (either in heaven or hell) beyond your physical life. Even if not religious, your soul, that part which is unique to you, acts as the filter through which you have anger reactions. It helps to keep you on a moral pathway that you are happy with.
Ignore the signs in your soul and annoyance turns to rage
When your moral beliefs or simply an expression of yourself or your wishes for life are constantly put down or ignored by yourself or others, this leads to frustration. Frustration over time leads to anger then to rage. In rage, you can no longer act with control, and this leads to damaging aggression verbal or physical, to yourself or to others near you. The more your thinking, including the thoughts around your belief system is compromised, the more your instinctive brain process will take over, including angry reactions. In his book ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’, Daniel Khanneman notes that the more overloaded your brain is, the more likely you are to revert to his term for thinking ‘system 1’, the instinctive thinking from the amygdala than ‘System 2’, the system for our logical thinking in the cortex.
System 1 has more influence on behavior when System 2 is busy… People who are cognitively busy are also more likely to make selfish choices, use sexist language, and make superficial judgments in social situations.
Anger in the soul causes other emotions such as shame or guilt
It is in the soul, that the repercussions of instinctive anger lead to secondary emotions such as guilt or shame. If the instinct of anger drives you to act in a way that is not in line with your moral compass, such as physical violence or cheating, then the consequences of the actions can lead you to feel ashamed or guilty of your actions.
Instinctive emotions are like the weather, beyond your conscious control. For a balanced life, the first step is to understand human instinctive emotions, how they work and practical steps to take in order to avoid situations that are destructive to emotional wellbeing. Not every instinctive emotion that is acted on has positive consequences. Sometimes, it may be best to take shelter from the storm, for example, if you are so angry, it may be best to look inside your soul, and look to understand where the anger is coming from, is it harming you or others?
Anger arises when our goals or beliefs are blocked.
Anger is a basic human emotion triggered when our goals or beliefs are blocked. We all feel it, wherever we come from. For a happy balanced life, the first step is to understand our emotions, our triggers, practical steps to take in order to avoid destructive situations.
For more information about Anger you might be interested in these other articles:
What is Anger? Understanding Anger/Anger Explained
How does anger effect the body?
How does anger affect the mind?
How does anger affect the soul?
What hormones are connected to anger?
