CHRISTMAS AND TRIGGERS

I was having a session with a client this morning who said "Christmas is stressful."

Whilst I could see where they were coming from, given that in the background, I could hear my Son crying because he wanted to open the presents under the tree today. Plus, we were out for a family Christmas meal last night and one of my family is struggling financially with the extra expenses. Oh, and my wife reminding me that we haven't yet put up our outside Christmas lights, and the rest of the neighbors have!

I also see that Christmas is not inherently stressful...

In other words, stress and Christmas don't come together. 

Same as bread sauce doesn't inherently come with the Christmas turkey, you have to add it yourself (if you want to). We can also add stress to situations. 

So, as we might pour gravy and whatever else over our Christmas dinner, we also might pour our thinking over situations so that the situations appear stressful to us. 

Half an hour into the session my client asked me "so is stress entirely created by me?"

I paused to look for an insightful answer, and before I could find how to articulate what I saw, she answered it herself.

She said "I'm the one adding the stress! So am I always the one who adds the stress?"

To which I knew by now, she wasn't really asking me, she was asking herself, and looking for new insight.

It took a second, and then she laughed that laugh that I've come to love. The laugh that says "I get it now!" The laugh that breaks through the conditioning of our old thinking and makes way for new thought that frees us from our mind-made prisons.

What she came to see, which is how I also see things, is that life can be stressful. Life can be hard. Life can be challenging. And life can also be beautiful, joyful, kind and loving.  

But stress, beauty, joy and love are often what we add to life - to the situation. It's what we create with our thinking. 

Towards the end of our conversation she asked, "what if What I forget this?"

My reply was, "You will. I continually forget this."

I went on...

"Family time can be the most triggering of all. After all, it's easy to feel enlightened living in a cave. Or when everything is going your way. But our triggers reveal our thinking. Our triggers reveal the beliefs in us that are already there. More than that, our triggers reveal to us where we are not free in life."

I'll invite you to take on the same assignment I gave her. Look for your triggers. Look for your thinking. See if you can separate the situation from the thought. That will lead you to the freedom that you so much crave. 

And if it helps, you can download my free e-guide on how you might start to break free of your triggers and limiting beliefs by subscribing to my newsletter.