Great Class

I am taking a great parenting class at church on Wednesday nights. It is called "Handling Anger in Your Home". I don't consider my home an angry home, but I am a parent to a teenager, and I teach small children all day! Last week we learned about Anger vs. Rage. Anger is a negative feeling that results from injury, mistreatment or opposition. Anger is usually a result of situations involving people we care deeply about, which is why anger is common in homes. Telling someone they should never be angry is like telling someone to never be happy or sad. Rage, on the other hand, is the negative release of our negative feelings. It is uncontrolled anger! God has given us several "gifts" to help us make right choices in how we will respond to our negative feelings. First is an awareness. Conscience, Humor, and Imagination are other God given gifts. The best analogy is "Be a Pressure Cooker, Not a Microwave." The pressure cooker allows steam to release slowing, preventing an explosion. Try overcooking spaghetti in the microwave! A messy explosion indeed! Every time I feel myself getting agitated, I think of spaghetti all over my microwave. I don't want that!!

Today we talked about triggers of anger. (Work, Money, Children fighting all the time, Full Plate, Lack of Sleep, and Commute)Knowing whether to eliminate or modify a trigger is the key. If the trigger is not tied to the family core value system, then eliminate it! If it is tied to the family core value system you need to modify it.

I will wrap up with a few lines from a beautiful poem written by Reinhold Niebuhr:

• God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
• Courage to change the things I can
• And wisdom to know the difference