Anger has a shape you can learn: jaw tightening, breathing heavier, heat in the face, and often a strange busyness in the hands. Find your own two or three.

What the research says

In a randomised controlled trial, a mindfulness based stress reduction programme left people less troubled by difficulty in identifying and describing their feelings, and lowered their reports of hostile and aggressive expression, compared with a waiting list. Waitlist comparisons tend to flatter a treatment, so hold the size of it loosely. The link it points at is the useful part: getting better at reading your own state went along with less of it coming out sideways.

Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.