Happy Thanksgiving friends! What a wonderful time I had with my family. I hope you had a great time with your family as well. We have so much to be grateful for. Especially if you are healing!
I’ve talked about my triggers before and how I go down the rabbit hole to try and heal the area deep down that it comes from, well recently I dove headfirst into a rabbit hole of feelings that I didn’t understand at all. This situation that had occurred was one I had actually stated was going to happen months ago and I was confident that God had a plan and purpose, but that afternoon I was shaken by the thought and wasn’t sure what this response was or if it was a response to a trigger. All I knew was that it was extremely uncomfortable. We are taught in our healing process that if there is a response to trace it back to a possible trigger and heal the issue. Well, I was tracing, searching, and praying and no trigger was there. I realized after our Monday night lesson at Celebrate Recovery that it was a trust issue. The lesson itself was on Turn, turning over our lives, hurts, hang-ups, and addictions to God. Each letter has an acronym. T was trusting God. As the lesson went forward it literally slapped me in the face that I wasn’t truly trusting God with this situation. There was definitely a crack if not a hole in my armor. I had been so worked up over trying to fix this supposed response from a trigger that I never considered it could be an attack from the enemy. And in the process, realized I was trying to fix the issue to the point of perfectionism. This was a true epiphany. I felt like something was wrong with me and I couldn’t find an answer which frustrated me to no end. But does there always have to be “something wrong with me”? No not at all. It does help us when we self-evaluate ourselves like I did but at the same time sitting in that particular “feeling” and praying ultimately helps too. Unfortunately, I’ve judged and/or feared my emotions. I’ve judged and feared them well because mainly we are often told that they are fickle, but if we don’t recognize our feelings, we can’t change them, which ends up negatively impacting our lives.
Here are some clues that I use to pinpoint my emotional triggers:
Is my feeling one of needing acceptance, respect, being liked, to be understood, being needed, valued, in control, right, be treated fairly, attention, comfort, freedom, peacefulness, balance, consistency, order, predictability, love, safety, feeling included, and autonomy? After pinpointing which feeling it is, I decide how I want to feel and what I want to do. I practice this and my emotional triggers have almost disappeared. What’s left may never be gone for good but I also have these steps to help when those feelings or triggers pop up.
Relax – breathe in and out to release the tension in your body.
Detach – clear your mind of all thoughts.
Center – drop your awareness to the center of your body.
Focus – choose one keyword that represents how you want to feel at this moment. Breathe in the word that you’ve chosen and allow yourself to feel the shift. Such as peace or joy. I use peaceful all the time. I’ve also just spoken the name of Jesus over and over again. This brings me to a great state of peacefulness.
If I choose to feel something different when an emotion arises. I can ultimately gain emotional freedom. All these steps and clues are wonderful but ultimately, I owe my healing victories to God. He’s the one who has aligned me and placed me in the church I’m a part of, Celebrate Recovery, meeting all my new sweet friends, and my wonderful family. I was glad to know that my feelings weren’t part of a trigger response and blessed to know that I can trust my heavenly Father with ALL my thoughts and issues.
I’m so grateful for you here with me on our healing journey! Praying blessings for you until the next time!