Ancient Wisdom Forums

As humans sharing the complexity of being human in our workplace environment. As humans sharing the complexity of being human in our workplace environments, there are inevitably passing moments when we feel triggered from other’s behaviours. It is inherent in the balancing of multitude of:

• Personalities and differences
• Sense-making contexts and unique stories
• Natural human growth through our deep challenges and wounding.

We have a multi-sensory system operating at all times – whether we are conscious of it or not.

We are all making sense in-the-moment through our cognitive and affective processing. We can sometimes find ourselves reacting in ways that might catch even ourselves by surprise!

We are emotional beings. Our experiences are not linear and logic and analysis are uniquely contextual.

What experiences bring up for us individually is unique to our own inner lens and filters based on our previous life narratives, assumptions, and biases.

When it comes to circumstances that feel uncertain or feel like a potential threat to us, physiologically this triggers a survival instinct. It is natural that we can feel the need to protect ourselves. This can trigger a series of reactive behaviours both in ourselves and in others.

This is natural and is important to acknowledge. Being empowered is about harnessing the gifts these moments hold – for ourselves and the other.

3 ways we can be empowered in these triggered moments

1. Why has this experience happened right now?

What if the person you are feeling triggered by is perfectly placed for you to learn an important lesson so that you can live your best life?

Your best life that is aligned, purposeful, fulfilling for yourself and for the world around you?

Have you ever noticed how a seemingly insignificant encounter for someone else might hold significant meaning for you? This happens to me ALL the time!

I see it almost like a scene in a play that I am in that moment – where those in my scene are helping me connect to insights within myself. The interactions and the circumstances hold meaning for me that is perfectly placed to help me learn and grow. They might be pointing me to an opportunity to hear myself more, to love myself more, to be courageous and step forward, or something else emerging to be explored 😊 And when I embody this from within, I am able to share and give this to those around me.

The Sage perspective accepts every outcome and circumstance as a gift and opportunity. ~ Shirzad Chamine, Founder of Positive Intelligence.

The empowered wondering:

• What is this here to teach me about me?

2. Choose to see these triggered moments as naturally human and holding helpful data!

Yes, I truly believe they are. While, I know that it often does not feel good. We can feel frustrated, tense, annoyed, upset, hurt and other…

And there seems to be a societal conditioning that leans towards dismissing these types of feelings – to get over them as quickly as possible, to ‘fix’ them, or to push them aside as they are not ‘pleasant.’

While, as human beings, feelings are natural. All of them!

And when we find our feeling triggered, our body is pointing us to important information emerging in ourselves. It might be connecting us to an earlier life experience when we felt a similar way.

There is often a limiting belief underneath the trigger which has laid dormant until a life experience has woken it up. Therefore, the individual that has triggered us did not create the root of the trigger. The root was already within us.

They have just momentarily picked at the scab that was covering up an old wound within us. Which has not yet fully healed so it has triggered us. This is a natural part of the growth cycle. So, when we feel triggered, it is a positive sign that we are shifting and growing – and it holds important, helpful data.

The empowered wondering:

• Why am I feeling triggered in this moment?

3. Try taking a new empowered step.

If we continue to react and respond in the same way as usual, we will end up with the same results. This is the hamster wheel that many of us have experienced. And when we’re on it, it can feel like there’s no other option – powerlessly stuck in the repetitive frustration. It is what we know and what we have habitually come to live – whether it feels good or not.

While, just as there is an option to repeat the same over and over, there is also an option to try something different.

Any new action can become an opportunity for new potential to emerge. When we hold an intention for our highest collective good, fulfilling new pathways for all can open up.

The empowered wondering:

• What new action can I take to shift the repetitive pattern to enable new potential outcomes to emerge?

As we embark on the privilege it is to share our human spaces together at work, we can harness the opportunity it holds for shared learning and growth.

The curriculum of this life experience is so rich with lessons embedded in our everyday interactions and the imperfectly perfect nature of sharing the human sense-making together.

If we want our world to change for the better, we can step into our own empowered action by starting locally and deciding to try new actions when we feel naturally triggered to do so 😊 This can be learnt and practised like any other skill. We’ve got this! We can co-create new empowered ways for ourselves and with each other.

May you have a magical workday, every day!

Vee