While it’s human to feel angry, unhealthy expressions of anger can create pain and break trust. Instead learn the keys to express anger in healthy ways, to create closeness and connection.
Show notes
I remember the moment in my late 20’s when something new and unfamiliar happened. I was driving through San Francisco. I can picture the curve in the road that led into Golden Gate park. I was alone in the car, but very animated, talking to myself and waving my arms around.
It suddenly dawned on me that I was angry!
Before that moment, I’d pretty much bypassed my anger. It was like a blocked channel. I would get upset and almost immediately feel sad. There was a lot of anger expressed in my family growing up and I didn’t want any part of it.
But I started to see that without feeling anger, I was also shutting down my passion, creativity, self-worth, determination and more.
As I started to feel anger more often, I quickly realized I needed to express it in healthy ways, so as not to cause pain and break trust in my relationships.
Dr. Susan Campbell, therapist and author of many books, including Getting Real, Triggered to Tranquil, and The Five Minute Relationship Repair, joined me on the Man Alive Podcast to explain what healthy anger actually is, and how to best express and communicate anger.
We discussed…
- How to communicate anger in a way that leads to intimacy
- Healthy ways to set boundaries
- The negative impact denying anger can have on your sex life
- The difference between expressing yourself assertively vs aggressively
- Reactive cycles and the core fears that tend to reside beneath anger
Links:
Connect with Dr. Susan
Dr. Susan Campbell has authored nine books on relationships and conflict resolution, has delivered hundreds of seminars and workshop internationally, and has counseled thousands of individuals and couples. In demand with the press, radio and TV to help interpret the status of contemporary human work and love relations, she has appeared on CNN’s NewsNight and Good Morning America and Dr. Dean Edell.
Accomplished in the business world, Susan has directed a think tank, run non-profit organizations, consulted to Fortune 500 companies, and guest lectured at the Harvard, Stanford, and UCLA business schools.
An avid adventurer and proponent of “living your life out loud,” she has made millions, lost millions, lived in other cultures, and spent two years sailing her 47-foot sailboat halfway around the world.
Some of her more well-known book titles are: The Couples Journey, Beyond the Power Struggle, Getting Real, Truth in Dating: Find Love by Getting Real, and The 5 Minute Relationship Repair.
Connect with Shana James
Previously Published on Shana James Coaching