MSI Press Blog

  Excerpt from Anger Anonymous ANGER AS A DRUG Many label anger a negative emotion because it can be as toxic as any drug. Indulged without restraint, it causes untold wreckage to lives and relationships. When swallowed out of fear, it becomes a poison. It seeps into the body, making you depressed, nervous, and physically sick, and leaks out in passive-aggressive behavior. I prefer to call anger a difficult emotion because of the intensity of the energy it produces. The problem with anger is not in the feeling itself, which is natural, but in how it is expressed. It can be expressed beneficially in appropriately assertive behavior and in protesting injustice. Problems occur, however, when that energy is either under-controlled or over-controlled. Unchecked, it can result in aggressive, harmful behavior that destroys people and relationships. If internalized, it can wreak havoc with your body and emotions. Anger is a natural energy that helps you to survive when handled with care, compa

    excerpt from  Anger Anonymous  -  INTRODUCTION ANGER ANONYMOUS: THE BIG BOOK ON ANGER ADDICTION “Anyone can become angry—that is easy, but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way—that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.” —Aristotle   Anger arises within us with a warning label: “Handle with extreme caution!” It is a fire that can give light and warmth to sustain life when well managed, or it can burn and incinerate when out of control. Anger possesses a power that fascinates and disturbs. Even though we witness its devastating effects in broken relationships, violence, and war, we relish the momentary sense of power we feel when enraged. “Anger is one letter short of danger,” the saying goes. Society respects anger’s dangerous potential. It makes laws against violent behavior. Parents teach their children to manage their temper. Religion cautions against becoming slaves of passio

  Anger, in its narrow form, is one of the stages of dying that Elizabeth Kubler-Ross identified quite some time ago in her book, On Death and Dying . People go through various stages, according to Kubler Ross (though her stages have been disputed ), the second of which in her model is anger (though she herself later stated that the stages are not necessarily sequential).  While anger of the patient was the focus of Kubler Ross and of most books and posts about cancer (and other dying) patients, my recent experience is that anger comes also within and from the caregiver, who had not planned on this life-changing (and time-changing) activity and likely is not prepared for it, whether it be lack of skills, lack of knowledge, lack of medical communication or options, lack of time to accomplish all that is necessary and thereby creating considerable stress, or lack of temperament/patience, causing anger to well up as a reaction to inability to control the environment and limited to no time

Anger, a Powerful Energy  Anger is a natural energy, like fire. Our earliest ancestors witnessed the power of fire in lightning storms and raging forest fires. They also enjoyed the light and warmth it provided in their cold, dark world. It was like a god to them. They feared and worshiped it. They observed fire closely and came to appreciate its many forms and varying intensity, from a tiny flame to a roaring firestorm. They longed to find a way to harness and use its power for their benefit. Then, one day, some unknown caveman learned fire’s secret and how to start, stop, control, and use it. Life changed dramatically. We spend a lifetime learning to manage the fire of anger that burns in each of us. Its power fascinates, seduces, and frightens us. We both love and hate it. Anger takes on different meanings for each of us. Some of us like our angry emotions because they make us feel hot and alive. They mean we possess power and control. Others hate them because  they makes us

  excerpt from  Anger Anonymous  -  CHAPTER ONE ANGER STYLES: TENDING THE FIRE “Anger’s my meat. I sup upon myself and so shall starve with feeding.” —William Shakespeare   Everybody gets angry. “But not me,” I told myself.  In my father’s drunken rages, I witnessed the devastating effects of uncontrolled anger. I saw dealing with anger as playing with fire. I could easily get burned. I decided at a young age, without really mak bing a conscious choice, to smother any smoking tinders of irritation I felt. In remaining calm and controlled, I found safety and, I believed, acceptance and admiration from others. It was only many years later that I began to recognize the awful price I paid for my pseudo-tranquility. ANGER, A POWERFUL ENERGY Anger is a natural energy, like fire. Our earliest ancestors witnessed the power of fire in lightning storms and raging forest fires. They also enjoyed the light and warmth it provided in their cold, dark world. It was like a god to them. They feared and