Turn Back The Tirade

Anger is a gift, Violence is not permissible, Hostility can kill you.
This book is from a seminar series called "Stop Being So Damned Mad!" presented in dozens of venues. It has been our most requested and best attended seminar. It is also the most fun.
There is a "Cure for the Common Mad." We talk to seminar participants who find the phrase "positive anger" a misnomer. "Anger as a gift" feels like a contradiction of everything we learned in Sunday school. Few of us guys have a father who said, "Let me show you how to do that right."
A twelve-year-old boy asked me what I was teaching in the seminar. His eyebrows went up when I said "Anger." He said, "I wish I had your book. My dad and I need to learn about that!" This is that book.
Negative anger is part of my family heritage. Frustration, disappointment and rejection are my three big anger triggers. My personal angering style is self-punishment. All of the violence was turned inward. I drew a line and said to family, "It stops here. It's not working."
This book is partially biographical. Intriguing that Jesus could anger and never have to apologize to family or friends for "losing it." He focused his anger energy on solving problems rather than diminishing or bruising people. I think I discovered how the Apostle Paul made anger work. He said, "Anger and sin not..."
I'm learning to anger in style and to turn back the tirade.