by Marty Brenner, CCDC

When times are good, having healthy relationships can be easy. However, when times are tough, we need the support provided by a productive, mutually beneficial, healthy relationship; it is from such relationships that we derive the sense of worth and validation that is needed to weather tough times. Tough times can lead to problems with anger, loss of control, or development of bad habits, such as, addiction to drugs or alcohol.

Contrary to what might be believed, it is very easy to learn how to develop a healthy relationship in tough times. A few inner directed and outward focused steps will help anyone build the kind of relationship that serves as a suit of armor and an anchorage in battling the turbulent seas of hard times. Click here to read more »

By Marty Brenner

Anger gave your prehistoric ancestors the courage and strength to kill very large, very scary prey. This powerful emotion causes a cascade of physiological changes that make you strong enough, quick enough to defend yourself when you are in serious trouble. Anger puts the fight in the fight-or-flight reflex humans rely on when in mortal danger. Modern man doesn’t have to struggle against saber-toothed tigers anymore, but he does have to find a way to control stress in his life so he doesn’t burst into a fit of anger during dinner with his family every night. Click here to read more »

By Marty Brenner

Humans possess a wide variety of emotions, ranging from love to hate and everywhere in between. While psychologists disagree about the exact number of emotions, most would agree emotions are either negative or positive. Love, compassion, respect and happiness are positive emotions, whereas fear and anger are negative. Despite scientists’ attempts to put emotions into tidy categories, human emotions show varying shades of good and bad. Anger, generally considered a negative emotion, actually gives you the emotional power to overcome frightening or overwhelming obstacles, or to set clear boundaries of personal space. Repressed or poorly expressed anger, however, can become unhealthy. Bad anger, if left unaddressed for a long period of time, becomes an insidious parasite to your emotional well-being and your relationships with others. Click here to read more »

by Marty Brenner
Humans are complicated creatures. We have physical attributes that set us apart from others in the animal kingdom, like walking upright and having opposable thumbs, but people also possess reasoning skills and a wide variety of emotions. All people are capable of anger, and anger does play an important role in our lives. Stressful or dangerous events trigger the emotion of anger, which results in a variety of physical and psychological effects.

The scientific community debates just how many emotions are common to all human beings, but most would categorize emotions as either basically negative or positive. Emotions are typically happy or sad. Anger falls into the negative category, usually associated with unhappy times. Anger is a perfectly normal emotion, a healthy defensive reaction to an unpleasant or potentially harmful event. Click here to read more »

by Marty Brenner

Humans possess a wide variety of emotions, some positive and others negative. Love, affection, safety and respect are positive emotions that make you feel good inside. Negative emotions, such as loneliness, fear and anger feel unpleasant.

We are sometimes taught as very young children to express only positive emotions and suppress negative ones rather than dealing with the issues that triggered these responses. Despite cultural taboos against expressing negative emotions, anger does play a positive role in your life – there is such a thing as “good anger.” Click here to read more »

by Marty Brenner
The smallest show of support from a manager is a significant source for positive change in the workplace. According to a recent study performed by the Temple University’s Fox School of Business in Philadelphia, compassion is the more effective response to employee’s anger when compared with punishing the worker for speaking out. Researchers found that inappropriate responses to outbursts, like reprimanding or firing the worker, actually divert time and resources away from the underlying issue that prompted the deviant behavior in the first place. The study, published in the journal Human Relations, suggests expanding current guidelines on anger in the workplace to allow managers and co-workers to show compassion and support for the upset employee in a way that causes effective and positive changes in the workplace. Click here to read more »