Giving your partner the silent treatment, breaking a water glass in the middle of a fight, responding to criticism with the meanest thing you can think to say. Once you’ve done it, you regret it, but it’s too late to take it back. You can only hope the next time you’re angry, you respond in a better way.
Control the Reaction
To gain control over your reactions to your emotions, you have to know why you’re feeling the emotion in the first place. A helpful tool for doing this is noticing and naming your feelings. Recognizing the subtle differences between different types of anger will give you a greater sense of your experience and more profound knowledge of yourself. And, as you come to understand your inner world better, you’ll gain the tools to understand others’ experiences better, helping you become more empathetic and in turn a better partner and friend.
