Things That Tick Me Off (Guided Journals) [Hardcover]

Joan Mazza (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2000 | Series: Guided Journals

In Things That Tick Me Off, author Joan Mazza helps journalers write about and understand their anger. A mix of instruction and writing prompts, this guide takes journalers through the process of recognizing and coping with the troublesome aspects of everyday life. By responding to the prompts, journalers investigate and analyze their negative emotions, step by step, and arrive at a new understanding of their lives and themselves. Readers can work through the entire book as a "process," but it's not necessary to read the book from start to finish. The design is open, attractive and very browsable, allowing readers to identify and work through specific issues through guided journal prompts.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A combination anger management course and journal wrapped up in one tidy little cover, Things That Tick Me Off is the perfect tool for both expressing and understanding those parts of life that just have a way of getting under your skin. Author Joan Mazza (From Dreams to Discovery, Dream Back Your Life) looks at anger as a positive tool, one that shouldn't be discarded or ignored, but expressed appropriately and used for greater self-knowledge. By combining specific guidance with ample blank pages, she has created a perfect tool to help you examine and come to terms with all aspects of anger, from your childhood indoctrination into anger expression to the bozo who cut you off on the freeway this morning.

Through a teaching method of specific writing prompts, Mazza provides a clear start and finish for this journal. A variety of prompts is included in each section; you choose the ones that seem the most meaningful to you, grab a pen, and get down to business. Four to six blank pages are given for each section of prompts, most having either a small illustration or quote meant to be entertaining or instructive, such as "Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor," from Ambrose Bierce. Some prompts are given in a worksheet format, with words to circle that best describe your anger and sentences or lists to fill in. Home, work, family, current events, life values, and victimization are some of the specific topics; after the first section regarding your anger history has been completed, there's no reason you couldn't skip around the chapters and fill in the most personally relevant first. So blow your top! Have kittens! Get a bee in your bonnet! Now you'll have the perfect outlet--it sure beats road rage. --Jill Lightner

About the Author

Joan Mazza is the author of Dreaming Your Real Self, Dream Back Your Life and From Dream to Discovery, and conducts workshops and seminars on therapeutic journal writing and dreaming.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Walking Stick Press (December 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582970203
• ISBN-13: 978-1582970202
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #969,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Self-Help > Journal Writing

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The joy of spouting off -- this book makes it even easier, December 11, 2000

By 

Susan K. Perry "Susan K. Perry" (Los Angeles, author of LOVING IN FLOW (BunnyApe.com)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Things That Tick Me Off (Guided Journals) (Hardcover)

It's true: many of us only write in a journal when we're unhappy, mad, ticked off. Journals are so good for that kind of catharsis. Joan Mazza's guided journal, Things That Tick Me Off, may be where you turn when you need a safe place to ventilate, but because Mazza is so skilled at what she does, you'll likely end up feeling much more relaxed. You might even tap into some creativity while you're emoting according to the many prompts she provides.

Divided into chapters that cover such hot button stress areas as work, personal life, and world affairs, this book also has a lot to say about how to transform your anger into something that can do you -- and maybe others -- some good. A great starting point if journaling is new to you, and a good new beginning if you've become bored with your same old diary.

In my own life, I've found that focused, "one subject" journals like this can be enormously helpful and satisfying. As if anger didn't swoosh over into ALL areas at times! It's even possible that by tapping into all that fury and frustration, you might be able to convert what you come up with into something creative. A story, a poem, a letter?

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Things that tick me off : a wonderful therapeutic tool, March 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Things That Tick Me Off (Guided Journals) (Hardcover)

I am a psychotherapist in private practice who has utilized "Things that tick me off" as a therapeutic tool with several clients. It has been a remarkable asset in their quest to get in touch with internalized and externalized anger. Many of the exercises assist in appropriately re-directing anger, allowing clients to reconfigure their lives and move toward a healthier and happier life.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We All Need This!!!, January 21, 2002

By 

Anne B. Jones (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Things That Tick Me Off (Guided Journals) (Hardcover)

This journal is unusual in that it helps its reader to identify and examine anger triggers. It is a great source of information on anger and provides a path to anger management. I can see how it would help anyone to become a master of their emotions.
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