- With deep awareness, gentle-loving patience, and radical self-acceptance.
“Our emotional triggers reveal those deeply buried un-closed wounds; those parts of ourselves that need the most healing, attending, and care.”- ShineVision Life.
Have you ever been in a situation, where your reaction was so quick, so emotional and so over-the-top to what was happening, that you lost yourself in the flood of emotions, judgment and almost immediate and volatile action whether with words or actions, and your reaction is bigger and louder than the level of the actual event?
“Triggers are like little psychic explosions that crash through avoidance and bring the dissociated, avoided trauma suddenly, unexpectedly, back into consciousness.”
― Carolyn Spring
This is normal and it happens to everyone. These are called emotional triggers, and they represent parts of ourselves, mostly rooted in our past collective experiences, hence the explosive reaction, and they have touched a deep, wounded unhealed part of ourselves, that perhaps we have buried or are not aware of.
1. Our past is the birthplace of our triggers.
“We all have a trigger built into our heads... Not aware of its existence whatsoever. But a single word can pull the trigger. Forcing us to feel numb, allowing the shadows to sip through the cracks in our build-up shell.”
― Kate O'Grady
All of us have gone through traumas in our lives. Some big, some small, some tiny, and if they have not been properly processed and attended to with love, care, and compassion, we end up carrying those wounds with us throughout our lives, and often end up re-enacting the same event over and over again until we bring our awareness to it.
When we get triggered in the present, we may feel that our reaction is legitimate and well-deserved to the person bearing the brunt of it, most of our deep emotional triggers are rooted in our past. Most of the time, whatever is happening in the present represents what has happened to us in the past, that perhaps we have not fully processed or have some unresolved emotion or trauma about. Hence, when we respond, we are re-playing the past event, and responding to the past in the present.
Someone’s comment about your weight may remind you of the time when you were teased in school or someone pushing ahead of you in line for coffee may remind you of your sibling always getting their way with a shortcut.
2. Our present is the fertile ground for growth, awareness, and healing.
Everything that seemingly happens externally is occurring to trigger something within us, to expand us, and take us back to who we truly are.
-- Anita Moorjani
Our present moments are the best place to attend and care for our past wounds. When we get triggered, if we can pause for a second, bring some awareness and presence to it, and allow ourselves to go back in time to the birthplace of the big emotions, they will reveal to us, a new and wonderful understanding of what we need to care for and attend to heal our wounds. Once we start on this journey, slowly, little by little, our triggers become less and less reactive to the point, where it no longer is sensitive as the wound is healed, and we can move through our days and experiences with ease.
3. Our future is the standing place for new selves to be planted firmly.
Once we can slowly move into awareness by being present and looking within, then the future is open for us to plant new seeds of the person who we want to become, and plant some new seeds of good thoughts, words, and behaviors that will take us on this new journey.
So, the next time, we feel that we are having an over-the-top reaction compared to what is happening, let’s press pause, and look for the wound that needs attending, care, and soothing.
Hope this is helpful in your Shine Journey to be inspired, learn, grow, get better and shine a little brighter, not just in our own lives, but in our families and the world around us, in small, simple, and easy ways.
Remember, Shine starts with small, and if sustained daily, becomes significant over time.
Shine On, and wishing you the best to inspire and help others shine as well!
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