thinking
I have been teaching anger management groups for a while using a combination of psycho-educational and process oriented techniques. For recovery groups anger is often listed in the top 5 reasons people report relapsing. One of the successful techniques of managing anger and other emotions is to identify you go to mode of thinking. Below is 1 hand out I often use. We go over the and out, and I ask folks to chose their one or two go to thinking styles and give examples in relation to anger. 
All or nothing thinking
- Be specific, focus on the behavior only and describe it with precision
Jumping to conclusions
- Pay attention and catch yourself making the assumptions
- Keep an open mind to other possibilities
Should statements
- Describe what you want or would like. Then if it doesn’t happen you
can be frustrated/disappointed but less likely to feel righteous anger
Blaming
- Forget the other person, they’re not going to do anything different
Labelling
- Don’t make judgments about the other person
Overgeneralization
- Make a conscious effort to look for exceptions
Magnification
- How bad is it really? Look at the whole picture
- Be very accurate & precise in your answer
open to new
Our lives can be filled with creative moments, whatever we do, as long as we’re flexible and open to new possibilities—willing to push beyond routine. The everyday expression of creativity often takes the form of trying out a new approach to a familiar dilemma. Yet half the world still thinks of creativity as a mysterious quality that the other half has. Research suggests, however, that everyone is capable of tapping into his or her creative spirit. We don’t just mean getting better ideas; we’re talking about a kind of general awareness that leads to greater enjoyment of your work and the people in your life: a spirit that can improve collaboration and communication with others. 
Different Cultures Enhances Creativity
Creativity can be enhanced by experiencing cultures different from one’s own, according to a study in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (published by SAGE).
Three studies looked at students who had lived abroad and those who hadn’t, testing them on different aspects of creativity. Relative to a control group, which hadn’t experienced a different culture, participants in the different culture group provided more evidence of creativity in various standard tests of the trait. Those results suggest that multicultural learning is a critical component of the adaptation process, acting as a creativity catalyst.
The researchers believe that the key to the enhanced creativity was related to the students’ open-minded approach in adapting to the new culture. In a global world, where more people are able to acquire multicultural experiences than ever before, this research indicates that living abroad can be even more beneficial than previously thought.
“Given the literature on structural changes in the brain that occur during intensive learning experiences, it would be worthwhile to explore whether neurological changes occur within the creative process during intensive foreign culture experiences,” write the authors, William W. Maddux, Hajo Adam, and Adam D. Galinsky. “That can help paint a more nuanced picture of how foreign culture experiences may not only enhance creativity but also, perhaps literally, as well as figuratively, broaden the mind.
The article “When in Rome… Learn Why the Romans Do What They Do: How Multicultural Learning Experiences Facilitate Creativity” in the June 2010 issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin is available free for a limited time here.
Source: SAGE Publications
Posted in Creativity, Emotions, Health, Relaxation, Wellness
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