Emotion-focused Journaling
Simply write about and articulate whatever is going on in your life emotionally, big or small. The key is to write continuously without any censoring or editing.
You'll be more aware of your emotions, and able to acknowledge and validate them rather than impulsively reacting so as to avoid them.
MORE IDEAS FROM THE ARTICLE
It can make navigating even the most basic parts of our day exceedingly stressful and frustratingly inefficient.
It is an external strategy for keeping track of what we need to do and accomplish.
By creating and maintaining a reliable organizational system, we give ourselves the best possible chance of efficiently processing the day-to-day Have-Tos, so that we have sufficient time and energy to focus on the Want-Tos (the things that really matter to us).
It means being direct and straightforward in what we say and do, setting effective and healthy boundaries and asking for what we want or need.
When we aren’t able or willing to be assertive we end up living other people’s lives rather than our own.
It is the ability to perform valuable, cognitively-demanding activities in a distraction-free state.
It allows us to operate at or near the upper bounds of our cognitive potential—which is essential to doing our best work.
It is a practice for training our minds out of the tendency toward automatic worry and rumination. The basic idea is to schedule a short amount of time every day to worry on purpose.
By creating a consistent time and space for our brains to worry, we discourage them from worrying intrusively during inopportune times throughout the day.
It is based on the idea that only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.
RELATED IDEAS
The ability to directly and respectfully ask for what you want, and setting boundaries on what you don't want, is key to building self-confidence and living according to your values.
Being assertive is not being rude or demanding, but a way to respect ourselves enough to ask for what we want. In the long run, we're teaching our brain that our wants are worthy of being taken seriously.
If you talked to other people the way you talked to yourself, you’d probably have zero friends, no job, and multiple warrants out for your arrest. Why treat yourself in a different way?
This actually makes it harder to control your aggression.
The solution is to turn the relationship around. Acknowledge and accept your anger for what it is. Then, direct your efforts at control toward your aggression.