We all get stressed out and emotionally triggered sometimes.
That is just part of being human.
But we don't have to let our triggers control us or our life.
This practice is an extremely effective technique that will help you to be less reactive to your stress triggers or overpowered by your emotional reactions.
We'll be using a combination of emotional freedom technique and visualization meditation.
Emotional freedom technique is often called tapping because we tap on specific points on our hands and sometimes the face while addressing a stress trigger.
We do this in order to stimulate a different neurological response in the brain.
Stress and trauma can get our mind stuck in a loop.
We've all been there before repeating over and over in our mind what happened or what would we have rather had happen.
But getting stuck in this loop keeps us in an emotional and reactive state that doesn't serve us.
Tapping the points helps us get out of that.
James Clear said,
The most successful people in the world get off track and make just as many mistakes as anybody else.
The thing that differentiates them from others is their ability to get back on track quickly.
So that's our goal with this technique to get us back on track of how we want to be feeling rather than the stress or emotional loop we've been triggered into.
And we'll be doing this using the power of love,
Acceptance and forgiveness.
A lot of our triggers are ongoing and we can anticipate them like work issues or family dynamics.
Just doing this short practice and visualization before you get triggered will help you tremendously in getting back on track quickly once you've been triggered.
So let's start by bringing to mind a current or potentially upcoming trigger.
Notice your physical and emotional response to thinking about that trigger.
Where in your body do you feel it?
In your belly,
In your chest,
In your throat?
And how would you describe that feeling?
On a scale of one to ten,
How strong is it?
Ten being the strongest.
Now close your eyes and take a deep breath in and a long breath out.
Start squeezing the tips of your thumb a few times.
You can squeeze or tap the tip of your thumb.
Now squeeze or tap the tip of your pointer finger.
Just a couple of times repeatedly.
And now the middle finger,
Squeezing or tapping.
And the ring finger.
And then the little finger.
And now do this on the other hand,
Starting with the thumb and going through all of the fingers.
And I want you to keep going like this,
Squeezing or tapping one finger at a time,
A few times each,
Switching hands and do this continuously as we work through this particular trigger.
So keep going through the whole practice and this will stimulate the right and left brain hemispheres to help you create a new neurological pathway in your brain.
Now bring back to mind your current trigger.
Keep tapping your fingers and repeat either out loud or in your head after me.
Even though I feel so triggered by this,
I'm choosing to react differently right now.
Even though I feel really triggered,
I'm choosing instead to act from a place of love.
Keep tapping your fingers.
Keep going.
Waiting after me even though I'm triggered.
I'm choosing acceptance.
And I'm open to forgiveness.
Right now I am choosing to love myself and others.
No matter what is happening,
No matter what has just happened,
I'm choosing acceptance.
I am accepting what is.
I am accepting myself and others.
Keep tapping on your fingers as you repeat these words out loud or in your head.
I am open to forgiveness.
Forgiving myself.
Forgiving others.
I'm choosing to respond differently.
I'm choosing love and acceptance and forgiveness.
I know this will serve me and I know this will free me.
Even though I've been triggered,
I choose love.
I choose acceptance.
I choose forgiveness.
Now place both hands on the center of your chest,
Your heart center,
And take a deep breath into your hands and a long open mouth exhale out.
Do that one more time.
Notice what's changed in how you feel.
Has the stress or emotional response gone down?
How would you scale it on one to ten as we did before?
If you need to,
Pause the recording and do a couple more rounds on your own of just tapping and choosing love,
Acceptance,
And forgiveness until you feel like this stress trigger has gone down to a level where you feel more comfortable.
And then I want you to keep your eyes closed and your hands on your heart.
Keep finding deep breaths into your heart center.
Begin to visualize yourself responding from a place of love,
Acceptance,
And forgiveness.
What does that look like?
How do you speak from a place of love,
Acceptance,
And forgiveness?
What decisions do you make?
Let yourself take in the whole picture of yourself responding from a place of love and acceptance and forgiveness.
Really see it and feel it.
Come back to this visualization every night before falling asleep,
Even if just for a few seconds.
Or linger there longer and really just stay in a place of visualizing yourself acting from love,
Forgiveness,
And acceptance.
Whenever you find yourself triggered,
You have the option to just gently tap your fingers or squeeze them.
And in your mind,
Say to yourself,
I'm choosing love.
I'm choosing acceptance and forgiveness,
Even though I'm triggered.
Staying with this as long as you need or slowly coming out of the practice whenever you feel ready.
