Do you know what sets off your anger? Are you familiar with the various elements of your life that regularly cause you to flare up? If not, here is a simple exercise to begin the process of familiarization.There are three steps:

• Step 1: Sit down and reflect on what triggers anger in your life, and then write down what you find. Take fifteen to forty-five minutes for this step.
• Step 2: Take your pen and a small notebook with you into the field (your life) and every time you are angry, make a quick note of what triggered you to be angry. If you are with people then wait until you are alone or go to the bathroom, and write down the anger trigger.

If you haven’t yet spent time observing your anger patterns, it’s highly possible that at first you won’t know what sets them off. So be patient and gentle, and eventually you will start to see. It may take a few days or longer, but stay with it until you start to see the some of the cause and effect.

• Step 3: Repeat Step 1. Having observed your anger triggers for a few days or longer, it will be helpful to see how this writing compares to that of the first time you did it.

By Craig Mollins