You know that feeling when an alarm goes off; that jolting noise that brings you from a sleep state to a fully aware and alert state? Well one morning I woke up to the thought, “triggers are just like alarms”!
I lay in bed wondering about the meaning. I thought of helping so many people through trigger responses throughout my career as well as working through my own triggers, I noted that even though we all resist being triggered, in the end, if we do our work, we wake up to a new way of being.
The alarm is an opportunity for change!
So I guess what we need to ask is why do we resist it so much? Why do we hate the alarm clock? We set it every night, it helps keep us on course as a reminder we need to be awake and aware of our daily course, but it seems the minute it goes off we become frustrated, we push the snooze button and we fight with every ounce of our energy to not listen to its message. So some aspect sees the value of it yet another part says, “I don’t want it!” Can you start to notice the emerging inner child and the responsible adult?
We are our worst enemy. There is a part of us that doesn’t want to wake up. From a clinical perspective I find these parts are usually related to pain. We avoid it with everything we have. We project, blame, judge, or will do anything we can to not walk through the doorway that the alarm is shouting for us to pay attention to. When the alarm rings, we are triggered; we are forced to face the fear of the underdeveloped self. This part will respond similar to a young child. It may have a temper tantrum; refuse to move, yell, scream, or numerous other behaviors.
This is where the adult and the mature aspects of the self can come in and support the younger underdeveloped self. So what I would like you to consider when the alarms go off in your life is this:
- Allow yourself to wake up, to be a little shaky in your steps.
- Bring in the wiser aspects of the self and encourage yourself, moving from the painful experiences of the past into the unexplored parts of your future.
- Enjoy the ride, trust it, allow it, and know that great growth is around the corner if you just will let it happen!
The alarm is here to remind you that you are at the doorway!