Session 9: Anger / Forgiveness

Anger is often connected to many other challenging emotions. In navigating through anger, it is important to be aware of other emotions and understand where they are coming from. In fact, not having the space to understand these emotions is what often intensifies feelings of anger. However, because the feeling of anger itself can monopolize our brain resources, we do not always have the opportunity to pause and reflect on what is going on on a deeper level. Give your students an opportunity to reflect on a recent experience of anger, and give them the space to understand whether other challenging emotions were connected to it. Allow them the space to reflect on what happens to the feeling of anger after acknowledging the other challenging feelings that may be attached to anger (refer to anger iceberg worksheet). 

Objectives

1. Demonstrate how anger is a secondary emotion - how there are many other challenging emotions attached to feeling angry.

2. Defining forgiveness as a process (as opposed to "writing off a bad debt" or "forgetting a trespass") and how demonstrating how forgiveness as a process is an exercise in mindfulness and essential for positive mental health outcomes.

Activities 

1. Show anger iceberg and discuss it

2. Mindfulness activity that could be applied as forgiveness exercise. Steps: 

Step 1. --grounding (senses)

Step 2. --invitation to think of something or someway they have felt any hurt

Step 3. --encourage them to name the feelings

Step 4. --identify thoughts arising from these feelings, ask themselves to consider what it is they need in this moment, who can help them with that

Step 5. --encourage them to establish in their minds that they seek wanting to be healed for their pain or hurt

So much to navigating through anger is about acknowledging what is and is not in our control. Here is a video from Fr. Mike Schmitz emphasizing what is in our control, what is ultimately our responsibility if we want to be emotionally and spiritually healthy: