How Do You View "Triggers"?
What if we had something like, "Emotional triggers are cries of unresolved trauma seeking to leave the heart and mind"?
I've seen many achieve beautiful, lasting healing. They didn't do it with victim thinking.
With that said, to disregard, misdiagnose, or misunderstand the trueness of emotional harm is to add to it. Pain in the brain is "real" regardless of the cause being external or internal (physical harm or negative emotional thinking).
Just like lifting weights ("no pain, no gain!"), it's very difficult to heal and resolve emotional trauma. It takes a lot of unconditional love, deep feelings of safety and trust, and time (maybe less so if ancient plant medicines are used).
I hope for a world where we embrace our emotional triggers as valuable signals pointing towards insecurities we can overcome and growth opportunities through mindfulness meditation, books, new friends, and more.
Very true words. Trauma actually transforms how an individual processes information. For instance, extremely traumatic events often not only take long periods of time to process but memories of such events tend to be very disjointed - often stored non-chronologically within the brain. The actual structure of the brain itself also tends to be altered. For instance, It is the job of the amygdala (a small part of the brain within the limbic system) to process emotional learning, especially in regards to the emotion of fear. The amygdala ultimately aids in the survival of the organism by recognizing danger. So when an individual is exposed to a traumatic situation (especially recurring threats) the amygdala becomes extremely efficient at detecting danger and recognizing any situation that resembles danger. In order to activate the amygdala a situation only has to be about 10-20% similar to the traumatic event. So, whereas the neo cortex is good for rational-logical thinking, the limbic system (housing the amygdala) is great for reacting emotionally to situations for the purpose of survival. As such, If a traumatized person feels even remotely threatened, then the limbic system activates, which in turn reduces the persons ability to think clearly and rationalize the situation (as these thought processes come from the neo cortex). There is a term for such an event - it's called "amygdala hijack." Ultimately, being "triggered" is this process of amygdala hijack in action. Being triggered is the amygdala percieving a situation as being threatening because the situation (sometimes only slightly) resembles their own personal traumatizing situation. I hope that made sense to people who got this far.
I think one issue though with the term "triggered" is that it is overused to the point of becoming a meaningless buzz word. People say "I'm triggered" often when they actually mean they are offended, or when they are experiencing a normal emotional response like anger, annoyance, frustration...etc. The true meaning of the word is meant to convey a flashback, a panic attack, emotional paralysis or an overwhelming emotional response, to name a few.
Ok hopefully that wasnt boring for everybody who actually read it lol :)
I love when we can describe otherwise mushy things in concrete terms. Well done!
Yes indeed, emotional triggers are signs of places emotions need to be healed.
But, they cannot be healed by yelling at other people to make the world a safe place for you.
The interesting thing is that those emotions that need to be healed will just find other emotional triggers. No matter where you go, there you are. You can't run.
"I hope for a world where we embrace our emotional triggers as valuable signals pointing towards insecurities"
Well said Luke! I literally cannot agree more.
I think people should stop and think about why they act the way they act, why they reacted to a certain situation as aggressively as they did, etc... I've been doing this for years, and I started realizing I have some "childhood traumas" that I have to either deal with or live with... I react very badly to people approaching into my comfort zone or calling me a child, for example, which I associate with some childhood traumas that I won't say here but I know that I have, and knowing and realizing I have a problem is the first step in the long road that is healing and forgiving
Haha! I picked the right time to stop by your blog buddy. I just bought tickets to the mediation, spiritual enlightening, eat, pray, love capital of the world. Bali Indonesia. I guess I'll have to take advantage and work on my emotional triggers while there. Fortunately I think I left most of them back in the states when I left 16 years ago! lol
Love the photo! Great choice. I'll be in Bali for the next couple months. The Island life is great! I sure hope you are feeling it too in Puerto Rico!
As always, best wishes to you and your family.
Ah, I hope to get out to Bali some day! I know we will eventually. Enjoy!
And when you do, don't hesitate to ask where to go. It's a pretty big island. Have a great day Luke and thank you always for all your support!
Great, just enter a little moment to my steemit account, and read this short and accurate post, I liked it, I'm currently on a trip to Brazil, then I will be very active in the steemit platform.
The fact that we all react differently is a challenge given the collective society we mostly live in. Something always has to be “wrong” instead of the process of solving. If we could have more empathy, it could solve a lot.
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Of the topic .....:)
What is the easiest way to convert STEEM to EOS, and vice versa?
Heh. Very off topic. :)
Maybe use an exchange like Binance with BTC as an intermediary currency.
Thanks.
So the clasic way, would be great if there is a direct link EOS, STEEM
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