Venting cures anger like alcohol cures alcoholism—it doesn’t. Never vent frustration, whether in marriage, romance, partnership, teamwork, parenting, teaching, coaching, managing. Don’t do it on Earth or in outer space or any planet, moon, asteroid, space station, or spacecraft in the plasmaverse.
Human wrath does not bring about godly justice. It can’t. Don’t take the bait when that little voice tells you otherwise. Think about love on your insides and keep trying—the rest of your life ’till the day you die—to put that anger in the right place. Master learning this more everyday because anger always sneaks up on us. You’ll get a lot more done in life if you master your ability to out-smart anger’s ability to sneak up on everyone.
The respect you gain from mastering your own emotions might even cut back on other people giving you things to be angry about. That’s when you’ll tend to get lazy. So, never take your eye off of anger, not even for one lunch break.
That’s not to say we should suppress, ignore, or deny the existence of emotions. Anger can’t be contained by focusing on anger. Anger must be displaced with love. Bottling up our anger merely dumps it back onto ourselves. Let it go. Give it to God. Send it to Heaven’s court. Let Heaven and its angels hear from you, especially about everything. Change the dialog in your mind. Confront your problems, but only after sobering up from your rage.
Venting is not the solution to anger. In fact, venting can be an interrogation tactic. Someone makes an accusation, you feel frustrated by the need to “defend yourself”, so their accusation provokes you to spill your beans.
Value the old virtue of keeping your mouth shut. “Honesty” neither means vomiting rage nor telling all people every random thought nor worry nor petty sin you ever committed. Reining-in your tendency to blab will grant you control over your conduct with people as well as your emotions.
Focus your thoughts on love, how you are loved, and how much you love. You can start with God and the people right around you, especially the people who make you most angry.
Proverbs 10:19; 12:23; 13:3; 14:3; 17:28, James 3:2-3