Amygdala hijack happens in that split millisecond when one can choose mindfulness, presence, a neocortex-based alternative to primordial flight or fight response but, alas, most of us succumb to the amygdala’s default and engage/ react 😫

There are several techniques that I’ve learned recently that help IF I remember to use them. Jeffrey Allen‘s grounding technique, Loner Wolf’s 12 grounding techniques, a 60 second breathwork exercise and tonglen practice.

I learned a new approach recently that works for processing difficult emotions but I am yet to try for triggering situations. Face the emotion. Sit/ be with what you are feeling. Find where and how it manifests in your body. For me, it’s usually a knot in the pit of my stomach. Don’t try to get rid of it. Instead, let it wash over you and watch it—what it is, its origin, why and how it’s triggering you.

Then love it. Surround it with white and gold light, give it hugs, sigh and cry with it. Oh well, and here we are, my old friend. Sorry for repressing you and trying to get rid of you. You are a part of me and you have every right to exist in the light. So come out, let’s look at you, let me give you a hug. There there. I love you just the way you are.

As Ram Dass puts it, and I am paraphrasing, the moment you get/ assign a reference point to the situation/ person—a like, a dislike, a memory, a judgment, you lost it. You will get triggered. Face what’s occurring, stay present and empty instead—gently avoid any reference points, any stories, any angles.

Don’t stop there. Go a step further:

Look at what’s arising vs look at what knows what is arising.

Ken McLeod, Trackless Path

Who is feeling the emotion? Who is being triggered? Who is manning the shop? There is no one. Only emptiness. Once you realise this, truly realise this, and IF you remember to remember this at the moment of being triggered, then the familiar emotions will cease their control over you. You will be enlightened.

The biggest challenge of course is that IF—remembering. This is the hardest part. Work in progress, as always.