In my post, Emotional Regulation is Nonsense, I wrote about why it’s more important to control your behavior than to try to control how you feel.
Recently I learned about a new study indicating that trying to control your emotions — especially so-called “negative” ones — can actually harm your health.
You can read it for yourself at http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-05-stress-heart.html.
Note that the article (along with the title of the study) specifically states that it’s EFFORTS TO REGULATE negative emotions, rather than the negative emotions themselves, that create physiological stress.
In other words, there’s nothing wrong with being angry. But there seems to be a problem with trying not to be angry if you are.
So the next time you don’t like how you feel, remember that the health of your heart is at stake and do some constructive wallowing instead of suppressing your emotions.