Triggers - The path to understanding your TRAUMA and HEALING your PAIN.

How many of you ever pay a visit to a dentist unless you have an unbearable toothache?

How many of you get your plumbing repaired unless you have a broken fixture?

How many of you carry an umbrella unless it is raining outside?

Most of you 'DON'T' and I am no different from all of you only that my experiences have today taught me to be better prepared.

"Why these questions?", you may wonder.

Just to prod and remind you that there is a world inside you that is most often the most neglected when it comes to your life.

I am talking about the world of 'emotions'.

It is in this world, in this ocean that as human beings we mostly dive into and swim across, yet we hate to accept it.

We hate to accept that we are 'emotional' beings, that emotions dictate our actions on a daily basis, that if you were to take out emotions from the game, none of us would ever even try to create, change, produce or manufacture - the forces that are at the core of every human endeavour in the world since time immemorial.

And why do we avoid being called 'emotional'?

Because it has a negative connotation in our culture, we have been made to believe that being respected and being treated as knowledgeable, professional or even dependable is all about not being 'emotional' and being more 'stoic' or 'rational'.

While I completely agree that stoicism and logic are important to better deal with our emotions or to build more emotional resilience, what I request all of you as my readers to recognise and accept is that there is nothing wrong with identifying ourselves as 'emotional' creatures because our actions and the results we produce are always determined by our emotions, which is why most of us are unaware of something called 'TRIGGERS'.

Triggers occur because we have emotions. These are the impulses that are sparked off by our mind when we experience something familiar, basically, when we experience a situation that immediately reminds us of a past trauma. The interesting part is that we can get triggered even when we do not consciously remember the 'painful' event only because emotions travel faster and easily rise up to the surface before the real memory of the painful moment comes up.

• That is why we may end up feeling insecure or unsafe on hearing a certain voice (we had experienced an authoritative figure in the past with that voice).
• Or may get angry when someone is late to show up on a date even for five minutes. (we have been scarred by our previous dating experiences)
• Or may get anxious when going out into a crowded marketplace (we have been molested in the crowd before).
• Or break down while watching a movie about a missing child (we had been abandoned during our childhood).

And so, we allow our triggers to define and determine our daily experiences, our feelings, our energy levels, our actions & reactions and even our behaviours even though we hate being called 'emotional'.

But, the moment we start acting consciously and become aware of our triggers, an entirely new dimension of our character and personality opens up. It shows us where we are hurting and why, the cause of our bad decisions and the repeated failures. Eventually, it is this recognition that ignites the desire to work upon ourselves and HEAL our past traumas because at the end of the day, all we want is to have joy, peace and abundance in our lives.

So, what are you doing to recognise your triggers today?