Where your mind Goes Energy flows!
Calming the Trigger
The saying “Where your mind goes energy flows!” is a valuable statement and can be very healing as long as you are honest with yourself.
Where is your mind right now? Is it in the future? Is it in the past? Is it scanning for potential threats out in the world? Notice the thoughts you are having. Just the awareness of noticing where your mind is, brings you right back to the present and back in your body where it belongs.
Staying present allows you to notice the infinite possibilities, opportunities or choices that are presented to you at every moment. For example, someone who has been negatively triggered from a recent event is so busy complaining about it and throwing blame at the person that triggered them, they lose the opportunity to understand their trigger in order to heal from it. Their mind was in the past when the trigger took place.
What is a trigger? It’s a response that causes a tightness or contraction somewhere in your body and provokes an immediate emotional reaction, usually blame and anger. For example, Someone tells you, you hurt them. A feeling of shame arises and you automatically respond with I am wrong and bad.You then either react by withdrawing or attacking. How did that work for you? Most triggers originate from childhood trauma and are practiced subconsciously throughout life. They create thickened neuropathways in the brain. Hence, the person being triggered is responding to the childhood trauma, not the person or situation that triggered them.
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Experiencing any emotion, good or bad, releases many chemicals into the body. In a negative trigger, there are two very potent chemicals – the hormones adrenaline and cortisol – that are released due to a perceived threat. While these chemicals can be beneficial in the face of a real threat, too much too often is detrimental to your health. Too much cortisol causes havoc in the body such as weight gain, irritability, high blood pressure, fatigue, to name a few. Too much adrenaline causes anxiety, high blood pressure, insomnia, headaches etc. Triggers are perceived threats and are subconscious. Getting past them or even deleting them from the brain is about staying present.
Here are some tips for lessening the effects of a trigger.
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Notice what you are wanting to do or say and don’t respond
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Take some deep slow breaths
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Put yourself in time out by walking away
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Then locate the feeling in the body.
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Simply close your eyes and feel the emotion in your body and allow it to dissipate. It takes 90 seconds at the most.
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Afterwards, meditate on the trigger with the intention to find the cause.
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Journal what you have discovered.
If you need more help, call me at 303-884-1705 for a free consultation.