fear of criticism/failure? Watch this💜

Got some more trigger talk for ya on this fine day😘
And the main takeaway is this: awareness leads to choice, and choice leads to power.
When we hold CONSCIOUS AWARENESS of our emotional state (“I feel sad/mad/glad right now” ; “Huh, this situation has me feeling physiologically activated/triggered” ; “Wow, this person really reminds me of this expereicne from my past”), we gain the capacity to navigate through them with clarity & intention. When we understand the roots of our emotions, we open the power to CHOOSE how we respond.
Healing is a process of reclaiming our minds, our bodies, our emotions, our spirits - so that we can maintain access to our core self as a baseline, EVEN AS we navigate the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual ups & downs that come with life.
Healing doesn’t mean we never feel triggered, that we are always happy, or that life is always easy. Healing just means we RIDE the waves, rather than getting thrashed about within them.
This is a phase in my own healing journey I am actively working with right now, and I am thrilled to attest that it gets easier & easier the further I dive in. It’s been helpful for me to think about this as “unblending” with my hurt inner child (which is the part of me that gets triggered when I feel “not good enough” in any variety of situation). Rather than joining my frightened/hurt inner child in the chaotic swirl of emotions, I am learning to observe what is happening, and then consciously respond.
Think of it like this: if a toddler was having a tantrum in the room with you, would you get down on the floor and tantrum too? This is what getting caught up in a trigger response essentially is. While it is TEMPTING to wallow in the toddler tantrum (especially when those emotional waves are ooooohhh so strong😅😵‍💫🌊), it’s essentially affirming to the scared/hurt toddler that, yes, things ARE as bad as they feel right now. What does a toddler need from an adult in a situation like that? They need us to be soothing, to be calm, to be compassionate, to be grounded & reassuring.
When we apply that same wisdom internally, it opens up whoooooole new doors of possible responses to our emotions, and to our triggers.
Curious to see this in action? Here’s how I “unblended” & shifted my response to my inner scared/hurt kid when recent triggers surrounding performance, perfectionism, achievement, and criticism came up for me💜
.
.
.
.
#trigger #triggered #innerchild #healing #selfhealers #feelittohealit #howtohuman

[@MonadMagic]

Yes!! So helpful Amy 🙏 Thank you

[@amycatwest]

🤗💜🙏

[@1chumley1]

Thank you for posting, Amy! It can be a lot of work just sussing out the origins of these triggers because they are our normal. I often feel that I am triggered when my energy has run out when I might otherwise be okay. It's very confusing to me.

[@amycatwest]

ALL of that makes soooooo much sense to me 💯💯💯
It reminds me of an acronym I heard once - might? be HALT (hungry angry lonely tired) - that is used as a way to check in with our basic needs. When a basic need is going unmet, such as no energy/needing to rest, we are MUCH more likely to be reactive, both internally (e.g. triggered) & externally (e.g. lashing out). I definitely notice I am more emotional, less rational, and less able to stay grounded in my reality towards the end of a long day…it’s helped me know that is NOT the time to make decisions or process complexity🙅

[@amycatwest]

(When in doubt, I say: respond to yourself like you would a tender young child💞)

[@1chumley1]

@@amycatwest Thank you, Amy!