What to do when you’re triggered

Sometimes life happens. We can be feeling like everything is going well, then BAM, something happens that throws us off our high horse. This isn’t a bad thing. People have many names for this. Hurt, offended, thrown off, “feeling off,” upset.

Some just called it “triggered.”

I’d define triggered as the state of having something happen to you that really quite upsets or offends you. Some people are triggered all the time. They look in the mirror and are triggered by their appearance. They go to work and are triggered by their co-workers. Some people love being triggered. It makes them feel special.

Life, however, in our constant and growing expansion, is a blessing. It’s tough right now, with quite a lot of the world shut down, but if you are in a position where you aren’t exposed to the virus, then you are blessed.

I grew up thinking that life has a set path. You go to school, go to university, get a job, a family, then you set off on the journey for your kids to do the same. This, for many people, is how it goes. For me, also, I also thought life doesn’t get much better than what you’re given. I would see, and have seen, the same people fight about the same things for my entire life.

I bring this up in the last paragraph because those same people fighting over the same things are really fighting over their triggers.

“You hurt me in this way!”
“No I didn’t, you hurt me!”

The cycle continues, over and over again. Nobody growing, nobody learning, everybody getting hurt in loops.

So, what do you do when you’re triggered that helps you out of this circular rut?

Let go.

If you’ve been reading my emails each week you’d know that’s what I was going to say haha. But what exactly do you let go off?

People get confused. They think they have to let go of the other person. Or, they think they have to let go of the situation.

Instead, pay attention to the feelings that are happening when you’re hurt. This alone will slow the feeling down.

Then, decide you’re going to let go of the feeling. The actual mechanism of this, I keep close to my chest. How you decide to do it is up to you. You could decide to not think or feel about it. You could choose a distraction. You could ask for help from me. Anything to help reduce the pressure off it and let it pass through your system.

You see, emotions are like energy through a pipe. When we are triggered, we clog that pipe.

When we then avoid the emotion, we avoid filling that pipe with energy.

This effects EVERYTHING, every god damn thing.

Your money, your lovers, your partner, your grieving process, your financial situation, your weight, your health.

The other day I decided I wanted to eat healthier, so I decided to let go of how I look at food and all the issues I have with it. Naturally, I climb up the ladder of emotions and of life, aligning with healthier foods. Not forcing myself to but as a result of natural evolution.

Being, rather than doing.

There is nothing better, and nothing will ever be better.

Thanks for reading.

Sharam