Understanding your body language is very important because it is a unique part of you that lets you know when you express your emotions. There are times when your facial expressions and your body says one thing, while your language tells another story. Have you ever smiled at someone politely and accepted their passive aggressive speech to you while your heart raced and your fists are clinched? Your body is warning you that you are in a very uncomfortable situation and that you are feeling triggered and becoming more angered in this situation. In this moment, you get to regain control over your emotions by removing yourself from the situation and using a coping skill to calm yourself. Listed below are some ways that your body makes you aware of your feelings of anger:
A change in your body’s posture. Become more aware of how you stand whenever you are angry. Are you standing in a hostile, threatening position? Being mindful of your posture is very important because it sends a message to others. Are you intentionally postured to be intimidating, or are you simply unaware of your stance?
The position of your hands. You may or may not be aware that you make a fist or hide your hands in your pockets or behind your back whenever you’re angry. Being aware of this response is important because it gives you the heads up that you are being triggered and need to use some coping skills to decrease your feelings of anger.
You facial expression. Anger is an emotion that can be seen on a face…whether this face is an adult, adolescent, or baby’s face. A telltale sign may be that you furrow your brows and your face gets stuck in frown mode. When you start to feel yourself scowling, remove yourself from the triggering situation and count to 10 instead of sitting in the anger and exploding!
Your body’s position. When someone is angry with another person, the way that they position their body tell us just how angry they are. If you notice that you take a step back from the person that you’re angry with, you’re likely wanting to create more distance and should use your coping skill and remove yourself from the situation. A huge warning sign is if you find that you take a step closer to the person you’re angry with. This is likely a sign that you’re looking for a physical fight (consciously or unconsciously) and you need to remove yourself from the situation.
There are several things that your body may do simultaneously whenever you’re angry. You have the responsibility of being aware of your body’s warning signs and holding yourself accountable to use coping skills to help manage your symptoms of anger. Anger is an emotional response that let us know when something is wrong. What we do with our anger is what make it a healthy or unhealthy emotion! Understanding that there are different types of anger and different ways that you may react is important. Start to identify your triggers and find counters to the triggering events to help you manage your anger.