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The second method of discharging anger came to me through a series of small observations.  One day my wife said to me "I just want to clear the table".   At that time, she was telling me about something that had made her mad at work.  I thought it was interesting that someone would want to take out their anger on inanimate objects.  What she meant by "clearing the table" simply meant she wanted to take her arm and swoop a bunch of things off a table.  My wife also practices RST, but found it difficult to redirecting anger to the past.  She kept telling me "I just want to get mad at the people who make me angry right NOW". 

A few weeks later, I was watching the TV show Raymond (a well known American TV show).  In this particular episode, Raymond attempted to teach his wife (Debra) golf.  It turned into an argument between them, and Raymond's wife finally took a golf club and started beating the golf bag with it, in a fit of rage. 

At some point - I don't remember exactly when - it dawned on me to experiment with this myself.  So, the next time I was angry - I discharged my anger at some nearby inanimate objects.  Further down this page you will see exactly how I did this safely.  Note - I did not hold any mental image of a person (past or present).   One of the reasons I was so willing to experiment a bit with Ellie's method, is because redirecting anger at people from the past became a little more difficult for me over the months.  After I discharged a lot of anger at one particular person/scene, it seemed much more difficult to connect the anger to images from the past.  Yet, I still had plenty of anger to discharge.  My progress was slowing down a bit.  When I would experience anger, it seemed too intellectual to have to try and figure out who's picture I should hold in my mind.  I just wanted to start discharging anger quickly, without having to give it a lot of intellectual thought.

Now, to explain exactly how this works - and why it's different from normal redirecting, here are many examples of how I finally fine-tuned this method.

(1) Lets say I'm in my living room when I feel angry about something.  I will stand up and start kicking and punching everything in the living room.  But wait a minute - it would be very expensive if I physically hit everything in my living room.  Yes,  I'm actually throwing kicks and punches, but I'm landing them in front of the object.   Also, as the kicks and punches land in front of the object, I'm imagining the item breaking, falling over, etc.  I'm hearing it and seeing it destroyed in my imagination.  This is both a physical release - and the use of my imagination. 

Be CAREFUL - you don't want to accidentally hit something unintentionally.   Land your kicks and punches well in front of the objects until you learn to do this safely.

(2) Another variation on this, is to imagine I am holding a real solid wooden bat in my hands.  I take that imaginary bat and swing it at things all over my living room.  I am actually swinging my arms to get a physical release.  I am swinging my arms directly in front of the object of choice.  It could be my TV, stereo speakers, picture on the wall, table, computer, etc.  Again, I imagine the object being hit by the baseball bat - and how that would look/sound/feel like.  I personally like anything with glass in it - just because glass smashes really good (in my mind).

(3) Here's another example.   I will actually pick up something like a coffee cup.  I will pick it up so I can get a good idea of what it actually feels like to hold it.  Then I put it down and go through the physical motions of throwing it against something.  For example, I actually go through the motions of throwing my arms, but I'm using my imagination to see the coffee cup smashing into the wall or window.

As I give more examples, you will see how creative you can become with this method.

(4) When I'm in my car, I also use this method.  Discharging anger in a car must be done safely.  Either pull your car over - or do it at a stoplight.  Lets say someone cuts me off in traffic - or I hear something on talk radio that upsets me.  If I'm at at stoplight, I will physically lift my right leg up and start kicking at the passenger door.  Of course I'm actually landing the kick a few inches in front of the door - but I'm imagining the glass window being smashed out and the door being dented in.   Or - I will imagine a nice heavy hammer in my hand.  I take that imaginary hammer and start swinging it at the dash.  I am actually swinging at the dash, but imagining that hammer smashing the controls, radio, vents, etc.  I see and hear pieces of plastic flying off.   If you're going to do a lot of redirecting in your car, I would suggest tinted windows to give you more privacy.

(5) At work:  When I'm at work, I have several ways to use this method.  I can simply go to my car during breaks and lunch.  Or, I go the bathroom stall and throw kicks and punches in the air.  The handicap stall is usually big enough to do this.  I've kicked hundreds of holes in the bathroom wall (mentally).  I've swung that nice wooden imaginary bat at every item in the stall as well. 

Just walking around work I can use this method.  I will press my hands together in front of me - all the while imagining I'm kicking things as I walk by them.  No one knows what I'm doing.

(6) I work at a small office desk near two other people.  If I need to discharge anger around them, I will take my squeeze ball and place it between my hands and press on the squeeze ball, while imagining myself kicking everything around me - or picking up that nice computer monitor and imagining how good it would feel to slam it to the ground.

Important principle:

 ** Remember, as far as the therapy is concerned, your mind doesn't know whether you are actually destroying something, or only doing it mentally. **

I've used this method for 90% of my redirecting for several months, and it has continued to lesson my symptoms dramatically - something no therapist or doctor could ever accomplish in thirty hears.  It has worked as well as method one did in the beginning.

But why should this work?  I'm not making any mental connection to the past.  This seems to poke a small hole in Ellie's theory.   Ellie's theory suggests we must make some mental connection to the past while releasing anger.  My experience doesn't confirm this.

I only have a theory as to why this works.  Anger, by its very nature is a destructive force.  Therefore, expressing it the same way is a valid way to release it - even if it's mentally destroying an inanimate object.  

FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU.  Like Ellie, I'm merely giving you something to build on.

Concerning Ellie's overall theory - what have I learned?

Ellie was right - the root cause of all mental/emotional disorders is suppressed anger.  It is suppressed anger that locks in our traumas.  Discharge that anger, and it will be as though the trauma never occurred.   I believe Ellie made a minor mistake when she said anger must be redirected towards people from the past.  This is just a minor error though.  Ellie redirected almost all her anger towards people from the past.  That worked, so she concluded it was the only effective way to discharge anger.

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