It’s easy to forget how easily our minds can go to war with our bodies. Especially when it’s close to home; when someone triggers a negative reaction in you.
Let’s say that I’m upset with someone for saying something I thought was unkind, I call this being triggered. And being a Human Being, I usually concoct an elaborate story about what I believe the other person said. Then it’s easy for me to be caught in a loop, trying to make sense of what happened and why. This can become my ‘story’ and when I attach to this ‘story,’ emotional discomfort and pain follows.
The real work for me is to locate where I feel the discomfort in my body when the trigger happened, to sit with that feeling in my body without the ‘story’. Allowing myself to feel it without too much judgment, as a fast track to healing. Eventually the discomfort or pain lets go of me.
For me, resistance to discomfort only causes more anxiety. Wronging myself about what has happened is unkind and usually makes the pain worse; shame, blame and guilt only lead to more emotional pain.
My mind may try to protect my body by saying ‘This never works?’, ‘Why do I bother?’, ‘What’s the point?’ Because it doesn’t want to feel disappointment, it’s protects me from failure. Notice when this happens, then observe where the discomfort is located and breathe into that discomfort.
When feeling grief or disappointment about the past or the future, allow yourself to feel this, don’t be afraid of it. Depression can be triggered by dwelling too much on past mistakes. Anxiety can be triggered by fears about the future, ‘What can go wrong?’ ‘What if I can’t get over this?’ Only deal with the emotions in the moment, with what’s happening now.
Healing occurs in the present. From the moment you accept how you feel, there is freedom. Then ask yourself, ‘How can I support myself?’ When your mind and body work together then you’re utilizing all your strengths.
What would your body feel like if you trusted it? Ask your body what it needs to nourish you physically and emotionally; it has infinite answers. Remember the feeling of a great massage, when the body feels really good. When you imagine this, it creates positive pathways between mind and body.
And look forward to being triggered. I mean it. Triggers give you the opportunity to heal yourself, moment by moment.