CHADD of Grand Rapids: August 3rd, Richard Ten Hoor "Anger, HMMMM..."

CHADD of Grand Rapids: August 3rd, Richard Ten Hoor "Anger, HMMMM...": "PLEASE COMMENT ON OUR BLOG BEFORE OR AFTER THE MEETING - WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK!August 3rd, Richard Ten Hoor, will facilitate a discussion o..."

Richard facilitated a great discussion, starting with what the dictionary and sages from the past have said about anger, to sharing how anger was expressed in our family of origin. We talked about identifying feelings that may be masked by our anger (such as feeling out of control), what can trigger our instinctive, fight or flight response (such as a belief that nobody cares or that you can never do anything right), whether anger is a good or bad thing, the difference between being assertive and aggressive, and how anger can help you if expressed in the right way, at the right time (after both parties have cooled off enough to be rational), with the right person, in the right amount, for the right reason (such as when someone has treated you unfairly). We talked about how skills such as reflective listening and I-messages can help everyone keep a cool head. We talked about how to control anger instead of letting it control us! I was impressed with how genuine everyone was, and wanting to learn from each others experiences.