Journaling Prompts for Understanding Your Anger
Anger gets a bad reputation, but the truth is that anger is almost always pointing at something real. It's rarely just about what's happening on the surface—the traffic, the comment, the way someone looked at you. Underneath anger, there's usually a value being violated, a wound being touched, a fear that something important won't be protected. The problem isn't anger itself; it's when we don't have a relationship with it, so it runs us. Writing gives you a way to sit with anger slowly enough to hear what it's actually trying to say—before it says it through you.
Journaling Prompts
Think of the last time you felt genuinely angry. Describe the situation plainly. Now ask: what specifically felt unfair, disrespected, or threatening? What value or need was at the center of it?
Is there anger in you that's been living there a long time—something you've never fully said, to someone who was never held accountable? Write about that. Not to send, just to say.
What does anger feel like in your body before it comes out? Where do you first notice it—is it in your chest, your jaw, your breathing? What would it look like to catch it there, before it escalates?
When your anger shows up toward people you love, what is it usually really about? Is the person in front of you actually the source, or are they receiving something that belongs somewhere else?
What would you have to grieve in order to release some of the anger you're currently carrying? What loss, injustice, or disappointment is the anger protecting you from fully feeling?