SFH #133: Triggers & Cycles

A user's start guide 🧭

We all have our triggers. And we all go through our cycles when set in motion from our triggers. These can be bite-size cues and habits. You see a movie preview, and you get the taste for buttered popcorn. These can also really defined our life and patterns. We may hear the tone of a loved one and experience a domino of unworthy feelings leading to our common coping behaviors. These are something we engrain from an early age from our caregivers. I freeze and yearn to run away with my deepest cutting triggers.

I decided to write about this behavioral design because it's been ripe as I finished packing for our move. We will be on a flight to Miami tomorrow. 🏖 As this change is upon me, and my 'foundation' is in transit across this country, I feel particularly vulnerable to my triggers. In addition, having two different moving companies fall through on the move date and shake you around will also add to dis-ease. 😳

I'm here to focus on what I believe we can take away from these moments and work from a mental and emotional health perspective.

It's instrumental in identifying your cycles and working to dampen them. Unfortunately, in my experience, it's not so easy to halt them in their tracks--cold turkey style. Beyond awareness is a sharp intention to shift.

I find it most effective to interrupt a cycle at the pass. It is eliminating or changing the triggers. It's straightforward and sometimes surprisingly simple if you operate with precision in your aim. Wake up ten minutes earlier. Take Instagram off your phone. Practice a breathing exercise.

It's best to act on your intentions when you're not in the middle of a cycle.

With your trigger shifted, you may discover that cycle is no longer what it once was or even better...poof. It's gone. 💨

What cycles do you want to work on? What are the triggers that set them in motion? 🚂