Puddles of Anger

There are different ways of expressing anger, some indirect and others more direct. Whichever way expressed, the human psyche usually senses the hostile presence of rage, whether it can be correctly labeled or not. In other words, exposure to phosphine will kill you whether or not you can name it due to its noxious and corrosive nature.

Indirect expressions of anger include:

sulking; pouting; teasing others; using sarcasm; ignoring, feeling suspicious, wary or cynical; competitiveness through intellectualizing; getting even in sneaky ways; humble competitiveness through comparision of self and others; eye rolling.

Direct expressions of anger include:

feeling resentful; acting helpless; lying; acting dismissive; exploding; pointing out another's inadequacies; disparaging efforts or accomplishments of others; acting aggressively competitive, feeling hostile; showing your superiority; challenging others; overreacting to a real or implied criticism; projection.

Even when we do not express anger directly - and, I submit, most of the time we don't in what we call civilized community - it may be seeping out and puddling around our feet. And the oddest thing about anger is how it attracts anger. The truth of the matter is that we live in a stressed out, angry society. We are doomed to slip in puddles unless we do three things - become aware of the various faces of anger, do the hard work required to deal with the root cause of our own anger and avoid stepping in a puddle of another.