Facing the Fire: Experiencing and Expressing Anger Appropriately

The author of The Flying Boy describes how repressing anger can have profound effects on personal health and guides readers step by step through the process of getting past their fears.

“Facing the Fire is the best book on anger I have read; it is responsible, honest, practical, and a good read. I know the techniques Lee describes work, and the exercises alone make it a valuable book. I will use Facing the Fire personally and professionally.”—Dr. Patricia Love, author of The Emotional Incest Syndrome: What to Do When a Parent’s Love Rules Your Life

Do you believe: Anger is a “negative” emotion? “Nice” or “emotionally sophisticated” people don't get angry? Anger will disappear when you have understood intellectually what causes it? You won’t be angry if you just learn to forgive? If so, you are not alone. Anger is the most misunderstood and, consequently, painful of all our emotions. But denying, suppressing, and avoiding our own and others’ anger can have unfortunate results: weakened immune systems, numbing addictions, stormy relationships, lowered self-esteem.

Now, John Lee, the nationally renowned speaker, teacher, and author, shows you a better way of dealing with anger. Based on his work with clients and his own experiences with anger, he: 

• Uses real-life scenarios to help you understand what anger is, what causes it, and why it cannot and should not be avoided
• Carefully guides you through a process of confronting and getting past the fears—of losing control, of alienating people, of hurting yourself or someone you love—that keep you from honestly experiencing and accepting your anger
• Gently demonstrates ways in which you can express anger constructively—from talking it out to pounding your pillow
• Demonstrates why another person’s anger, if it is expressed appropriately, need not be threatening or harmful to you—but in fact can help you

“Anger is our most misunderstood emotion. It is a fire that will either consume or purify. In this book, through effective and practical exercises, John Lee carefully guides the reader into a healthy relationship with this powerful emotion.”—Wayne Kritsberg, author of The Invisible Wound

John Lee's highly innovative work in the fields of emotional intelligence, anger management, and emotional regression has made him an in-demand consultant, teacher, trainer, coach, and speaker. His contributions in the fields of recovery, relationships, men’s issues, spirituality, parenting, and creativity have put him in the national spotlight for over twenty years. Lee has been featured on Oprah, 20/20, The View, CNN, PBS, and NPR. He has been interviewed by Newsweek, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and dozens of other national magazines and radio talk shows. Lee served as a professor at the University of Texas and Alabama before becoming a writer, bestselling author, life coach, and personal consultant. He currently resides on breathtaking Lookout Mountain in Mentone, Alabama with his three happy dogs.

William Stott was born in New York City in June 1940 as France was falling to the Nazis. World War II has always been near the center of his emotional life and partly explains his having worked for the US State Department doing propaganda (then called "cultural relations," now "public diplomacy") during the Cold War 1960s; his posts were Dakar, Senegal, and Fez and Rabat, Morocco.  Bill’s books include Documentary Expression and Thirties America (1973, 1984); On Broadway: Performance Photographs by Fred Fehl (1978), with Jane Stott; and, in collaboration with John Lee, Recovery: Plain and Simple (1990) and Facing the Fire: Experiencing and Expressing Anger Appropriately (1993).