Healing Your Emotional Reactivity
“Why do I get triggered when someone else expresses their feelings?”
Triggered Feeling:
You might lack the emotional capacity to process or regulate your own emotions.
Acknowledge Your Shadow:
When you experience an intense emotion and then react to it, what's happening is your conscious mind is attaching meaning to what you're experiencing through the stories it tells. Those stories can look like:
I can't trust anyone
I'll never be good enough
I am not worthy of love
When you're in this state you often say and do things that you later regret - you might even shame yourself. There are multiple reasons why you react, but it usually comes down to what you experienced in childhood. Here are a few examples:
A reactive parent who was emotionally overwhelmed easily
A caregiver who used manipulation tactics to minimize your emotions
A close friend who shamed you for being 'too emotional'
Scroll down to begin the first steps of breaking this cycle.
Steps to Integrate:
Recall a memory where you felt an intense emotion and reacted to it. Then take it through the following journal prompts.
How did it make you feel? Can you remember any sensations within your body that took place when you felt that particular emotion?
When have you felt those same feelings before? What incident from the past does it remind you of?
What did you make this event mean about you? (perhaps you're unloveable, you can't trust anyone, etc.)
Whom do you blame for this event?
What needs to happen for you to heal this incident? Is there a ritual you can perform, something you need to say, or something someone else needs to say to process this emotion fully?
Until next week,
Jordan
