InInshirahislamically integrated self-help
ThemeThe fear underneath anger
Time60 seconds
MomentEveryday
1The angry face is standard human equipment. It looks the same in every country, and people born blind make it too, so nobody had to teach you either to pull it or to read it.
CoreThe fear underneath anger60 secondsQur'an 2:155

That cuts two ways for you. Yours is showing when you are sure you are hiding it, and people answer what they see rather than what you meant. And when you catch it on somebody else, your body has already responded before you decided anything, which is worth remembering before you treat that response as evidence.

Islamic evidence

We shall certainly test you with fear and hunger (Quran 2:155). Fear is listed alongside hunger among ordinary human conditions, which is where this equipment belongs too.

We shall certainly test you with fear and hunger, and loss of property, lives, and crops. But [Prophet], give good news to those who are steadfast

Qur'an 2:155

Psychological evidence

In a placebo-controlled experiment, women with borderline personality disorder saw anger in ambiguous faces more quickly and with stronger amygdala responses than others, and oxytocin reduced that sensitivity. Reading anger in a face happens fast, and how fast varies between people. It was a small study in one group, so it says more about the process than about how common the difference is.

Bertsch K, Gamer M, Schmidt B, Schmidinger I, Walther S, Kästel T, Schnell K, Büchel C, Domes G, Herpertz SC. (2013). The American journal of psychiatry · doi

Review detail

Why it works. A signal everybody reads without learning gets read very fast and without checking.

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2A colleague's frown is being read by very old equipment that is watching for something pointed coming towards you. The reaction it produces is not a judgement on you, and quite often the frown is not about you at all.
CoreThe fear underneath anger60 secondsQur'an 3:175

Before you answer the face, get one piece of actual information. Ask what is going on, or simply wait for their first sentence and listen to it. Most frowns turn out to be a headache, a message they just read, or plain concentration.

Islamic evidence

It is Satan who urges you to fear his followers; do not fear them (Quran 3:175). The dread of what others might do is described as something urged into you and blown up beyond its size.

It is Satan who urges you to fear his followers; do not fear them, but fear Me, if you are true believers

Qur'an 3:175

Psychological evidence

A systematic review of experimental exclusion found that being left out produced stronger and longer-lasting distress in people with psychiatric diagnoses than in others. Being shut out is a real injury, which is part of why an ambiguous face can land so heavily. The experiments used mild, artificial exclusion tasks, so they show the sensitivity rather than the full weight of the real thing.

Reinhard MA, Dewald-Kaufmann J, Wüstenberg T, Musil R, Barton BB, Jobst A, Padberg F. (2020). European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · doi

Review detail

Why it works. Faces get scanned for danger first and for meaning second, which is why the first read is so often wrong.

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3Anger and anguish grew from the same old root, and angst, anxiety and danger belong to the same family of words. The language has been saying this for about a thousand years.
CoreThe fear underneath anger60 secondsQur'an 70:20

Use it as a handle rather than as proof. Next time you catch yourself furious, try the word anguish instead and see whether anything in you agrees. If it does, you have found the layer that is worth attending to, and you found it with a word rather than an hour of analysis.

Islamic evidence

He is fretful when misfortune touches him (Quran 70:20). The fretting comes first, and the anger hardens over the top of it afterwards.

he is fretful when misfortune touches him

Qur'an 70:20

Psychological evidence

In a placebo-controlled experiment, people with generalised social anxiety showed exaggerated amygdala responses to both fearful and angry faces, which oxytocin brought back towards normal. The same threat machinery was busy with both kinds of face. It was a small study in one diagnosis, so it supports the family resemblance without settling how deep it goes.

Labuschagne I, Phan KL, Wood A, Angstadt M, Chua P, Heinrichs M, Stout JC, Nathan PJ. (2010). Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · doi

Review detail

Why it works. A word that fits better than the one you were using shows you what you are actually dealing with.

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4Anger itself is standard issue. Handling it well is not, and nobody is born knowing how.
CoreThe fear underneath anger60 secondsQur'an 70:19

Which means the thing you have been calling a character flaw is closer to a skill nobody taught you. That changes the job: not becoming a person who never gets angry, but getting better at the ten seconds after it arrives. Skills improve with practice in a way that verdicts about your character never do.

Islamic evidence

Man was truly created anxious (Quran 70:19). The raw material is stated plainly, which leaves the work as work and not as evidence of something wrong with you.

Man was truly created anxious

Qur'an 70:19

Psychological evidence

A developmental study comparing people aged 10 to 23 found that raw emotional reactivity fell with age while the ability to rethink a situation improved, and sensitivity to rejection peaked in the middle teens. So the regulating side really does develop rather than arriving fully formed. It compared different ages at one time, which shows the pattern rather than any one person's path.

Silvers JA, McRae K, Gabrieli JD, Gross JJ, Remy KA, Ochsner KN. (2012). Emotion (Washington, D.C.) · doi

Review detail

Why it works. Treating it as something you are learning keeps you working at it instead of hiding from it.

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5Nothing gives you notice. The bad news, the difficult person, the thing you were not ready for: none of it checks your diary first.
CoreThe fear underneath anger60 secondsQur'an 65:3

A surprising amount of anger is really the protest that this should have come later, or with warning, or to somebody else. Drop the expectation of warning and the unfairness thins out, because there was never a version where you got told in advance. What is left is the actual problem, usually smaller than the outrage about its timing.

Islamic evidence

God has set a due measure for everything (Quran 65:3). Timing you were not consulted about is still measured, which makes it less of an insult.

and will provide for them from an unexpected source; God will be enough for those who put their trust in Him. God achieves His purpose; God has set a due measure for everything

Qur'an 65:3

Psychological evidence

A study of anxiety-related traits found that fear of your own anxious sensations and difficulty tolerating not knowing were strongly related but still separable, both built around a fear of unknown harm. Not knowing what is coming is itself a weight some people carry heavily. It was a questionnaire study at a single point in time, so it maps the traits rather than showing what shifts them.

Carleton RN, Sharpe D, Asmundson GJ. (2007). Behaviour research and therapy · doi

Review detail

Why it works. Much of the heat comes from arguing with the timing, and that argument cannot be won.

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