Our September Fridays Together conversation was about anger. It’s in the air lately, isn’t it? We talked about political vitriol, the mask wars, and growing frustration about the rising Covid rates. We discussed how to handle anger directed at you, particularly in a work setting. If you are required to assist someone who is furious, how do you do that? The first step is to get as calm as possible. As one person said, “I take the time I need to center. I’m not going to get anything done while they’re in this space.” Calming techniques can help, like breathing and engaging the senses, and drawing on empathy for the person in anger. “When I don’t understand where the anger is coming from,” one person said, “I remember that usually under the mad is sad.” Then try to acknowledge the person’s feelings–“I hear your fear.” Remember that people can’t hear us until they feel heard.
Anger isn’t always something that needs to be tamped down, though. When we don’t allow ourselves to feel our anger, we can internalize it. As one person said, “It compresses into me.” We all have different ways of handling our own anger. Some go for a walk, some yell in the car. Anger can also be a clue about an injustice we’re seeing, and can fuel us to fight that injustice. When we do that, be thoughtful about where to direct that anger. One person said that they try to remember, “I live to be hard on systems and soft on people.” It was such a thought-provoking conversation! Many thanks to those who participated and shared their thoughts and experiences.
Mark your calendar now for our October Fridays Together! Sign in information is below. Hope to see you there!
Katharine Manning is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Fridays Together
Time: Oct 8, 2021 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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Not sure what this is about? Fridays Together is a free monthly facilitated conversation about how we’re taking care of ourselves as we’re taking care of those around us. We meet on the second Friday of the month at noon Eastern, for one hour. I choose a theme for the conversation and introduce the topic, then we open up for discussion. You can learn more and sign up here.