Where do you go to?
We all have triggers. They are survival mechanisms. What we did to keep afloat. Even when we knew it wasn't good for us. Addictions to shopping, alcohol, the whole gambit of addictions, including where we sometimes see women addicted to the same patterns of abusive partners. It's sad, but we as humans we crave familiarity. So, we choose emotions that often feel familiar: anxiety, sadness, rage, despair. Addictions to emotion. And below that veneer of emotional masquerading to feel whole, we often hide behind addictive behaviour. Addictions to scrolling. Addictions to distractions and deflections. Addictions to emotional eating. Addictions to so much is due to the stresses of our modern lives: the intensity, the pace, the uncertainty.
Some people, when challenged or triggered, automatically fight back. It's all they knew. It's all they could do to survive back then. It's only when you unpack the anger that you get to the root of the pain. Sometimes fighting back saved our lives.
I, by contrast, am not a fighter. I am conflict-averse. Like so many of us, it comes from growing up in a turbulent environment. And sometimes that can lead to us grappling with our emotions, to flight, to freeze. Sometimes, flight or freezing saved somebody’s life. Then it becomes so easy to disappear.
But when you superimpose the diagram of Dr. David Hawkins' Ladder of Frequency onto this helpful understanding of our primary responses to triggers, we can see how seemingly "emotionally unintelligent" instinctive behaviour often emerges. Learned behaviour often becomes our intelligence. It's familiar. I flight. I freeze. Anything to feel safe.
I know it at a cerebral level, but it's hard to navigate emotionally. I withdraw. I don't want to go out. I lose my lightness. Serious serial overthinking supersedes sanity. In isolation, the "barking dog" of self-derision loops relentlessly, a cruel replay of a familiar pain, a familiar shame.
At the root of all these responses are our lower forms of frequency.
I meet myself at the mirror, and I stare into the abyss of my joy.
And I pray for courage.
Courage to find a new way.
For courage is where resolution lies. Courage is where peace and alignment lie.
Courage is faith colliding with wisdom. The wisdom of moving beyond the triggers of our old patterns and wounds
To step into the arena
of a different era.
Trusting
The quiet voice within.
Beyond the noise.
In silent surrender.
Where do you escape to?
