Tag Archives: anger

If You’re Grumpy and You Know It…Read a Book!

Logan has been pretty grumpy lately. I’m not really sure why, and frankly I’m not even sure if he knows why most of the time, but I’ve been a little concerned about it for a while. I noticed the change about a month or two ago and started looking for solutions to the problem. We talked about it often and most of the time I got very little response out of him. I knew something was bothering him, but he couldn’t seem to vocalize what it was. Instead he would hit, kick, scream, and throw things. I was at a … Continue reading →

8 Ways We Self-Medicate Anxiety

Everyone knows what it’s like to have anxious moments. In fact, our body’s natural stress response is an invaluable tool we need to respond appropriately in times of crisis or danger. But when it is a near-constant companion – fueled by everyday thoughts or situations that do not warrant a heightened stress response – anxiety can be harmful. In fact, it can hurt so much our minds and bodies become desperate for relief, any relief, as fleeting as it may be. Though there are healthy means of relieving anxiety, such as exercise, meditation and prayer, all too often we choose … Continue reading →

Who Shares My Happiness Now?

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One of the saddest parts of being a single parent is not having anyone to share my happiness. Of course I have a support system, friends and family who are delighted when my daughter reaches a milestone or achieves something she has been working towards. They patiently listen when I tell them how smart she is, how kind, how incredibly amazing. It’s not the same as sharing those things with the one other person in the world who has the same intense love for your child that you have. I remember talking with my ex husband when our daughter was … Continue reading →

Blowing It As a Mother

I sit here with a pit in my stomach. I will probably spend the rest of the day beating myself up over the less than stellar moments I had this morning as a mother. There is just nothing worse than sending your child off to school on a bad note. Even worse…to send your child off to school with them in tears—I don’t think my last minute attempts at an apology really resonated in his heart. It has been a bad couple of weeks, just a lot of stressful things happening. It’s been everything from medical bills, to school situations, … Continue reading →

More Tips to Strengthen Your Marriage

Yesterday I suggested a few tips to help strengthen and improve your marriage. Here are some more. Be Involved Make sure you have interests outside the home and/or outside the work situation. Neither of these should take up all your time. It might be a craft, a sport, or reading. Whatever it is doesn’t matter so much, so long as you are keeping mind and body active and maintain interests outside your family. It will keep you interesting as a person, help you maintain communication skills with others and provide topics of conversation. Have Common Interests At the same time, … Continue reading →

Guys, Watch Your Temper at Work!

Does something at the office just make you want to explode? Maybe it’s not “blowing your top” you should worry about, but blowing your heart. A new study from the Stress Research Institute of Stockholm University in Sweden has found a connection between bottling up anger at work and heart attack risk. Nearly three thousand employed men participated in the decade-long study. None had suffered a heart attack before the start of the study. During the study, however, nearly fifty men suffered from a heart attack or died from heart disease. Many of those men had been “covertly coping” with … Continue reading →

Bodyworks: Physically Calming Yourself

Yesterday, we took a look at how anger works in the body — what it does to your hormones, your body language, your heart rate, and more. Anger isn’t just a mental state; it has an impact on the whole body. Calming down can be a whole body process, too. The instinctive reaction to anger is aggression. Anger is one way the body and mind respond to threats — like yesterday’s example of the reckless driver. If someone cuts you off in traffic, you may get mad because they have endangered your life. Maybe that anger makes you drive a … Continue reading →

Bodyworks: the Physical Side of Anger

Some people have a shorter fuse than others. Some people seem to spend most of the time ticked off about something. Anger is a normal, healthy emotional state — but it also has a physical impact on the body. Anger can change the body in many different ways: Heart rate can increase Blood pressure can rise Facial expression and body language can change — the face may get flushed, the jaw may clench, the arms may raise. Hormone levels change Perspiration can increase Blood flow to the hands may increase in preparation to fight Researchers have observed a pattern of … Continue reading →

Be Glad You Aren’t These Parents

What would you do if you learned that your 11-year-old son had been suspended from school? Would you: A. Ground him for life B. Ship him off to military school C. Punch his principal for what you consider to be an unfair punishment If you answered “C,” then you might want to reconsider after hearing what happened to a Rhode Island mom after she went the same route. According to reports, 30-year-old Aleyda Uceta allegedly punched and bit her son’s school principal after she was told the boy was being suspended. No kidding. Police say Uceta attacked the principal of … Continue reading →

How Often Do You Yell at Your Kids?

Unlike some other parents, one of my best friends from grade school, who mothers a rambunctious 9-year-old, has no qualms admitting that she yells at her son. “If it were not so darn effective, I wouldn’t do it,” she reminds me on a regular basis. I couldn’t help but think of my BFF, when reading the tsunami of comments generated by a single New York Times blog post. In it the writer, a mother of three young boys, details a moment when caves to fatigue and frustration and completely melts down in front of her sons. Crayons fly, along with … Continue reading →