Ways to Redirect Anger

Pound on a bed with your fists and yell. Use a bataka bat or tennis racket to spare your fists.

Roll up a towel, beat the bed, and scream. Muffle your voice if you have neighbors.

Take a pair of jeans, hold it by the ankles, and whack the hell out of your bed.

Yell, scream, shriek into a pillow in the closet if necessary, or yell in the shower.

Put on heavy gloves and pound on the wall, or hit a punching bag.

Throw things at the wall, not random things, safe things like pillows

Kick a ball around the room. Kick the air.

Slam doors, cupboard doors, or drawers.

Rip cloth or paper to shreds.

Put work gloves on to avoid paper cuts and tear up a phone book. Yell while you tear.

Take pages out of a magazine, tear them in half, and throw them around the room.

Do a dance of anger.

Scrub the floor.

If you can't sleep or wake up with a scary dream, pound your fists on the bed until you relax.

Stomp your feet when you walk.

Kick a rock down the street.

Run, ride a bike, or do other hard physical exercise.

Weed the garden, the lawn, and anything else in sight.

Bang on a tree. Pick up a branch, break it, and throw it on the ground.

Find some stones to hurl into the water.

When you are in public try to find a private place like a restroom stall and pound on the wall. You may need to redirect anger to past abusers quietly in your mind. If you are in an office, throw a crumpled ball hard into a wastebasket. Break a pencil in two. Jab a ball-point pen through a piece of paper. Tighten your fists.

Mentally talk to past abusers. Say to those parental voices still in your head, "shut up," or, "get out of my head," or "I hate you." If you are comfortable with strong language, use it.

Write letters or compose e-mail messages to parents and other past abusers--then tear up the letters or delete the e-mail.

Play pinball, or if you can find it, there is game at some arcades where these little guys pop up and you are supposed to whomp 'em.with a mallet as fast as you can.

Go bowling and visualize the pins as past abusers. Find games like this on the Internet--there is one called the Elfbowl game.

Go to a cemetery and pound on a grave.

If you are at an airport, stand outside where the planes are revving their engines and getting ready to take off. Yell. No one will hear you--you won't even be able to hear yourself.

Ellie