Triggers: How We Can Stop Reacting and Start Healing

(Paperback)

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Description

Work with your triggers to find peace in the painful moments and lasting emotional well-being. Psychotherapist David Richo examines the science of triggers and our reactions of fear, anger, and sadness. He helps us understand why our bodies respond before our minds have a chance to make sense of a situation. By looking deeply at the roots of what provokes us--the words, actions, and even sensory elements like smell--we find opportunities to understand the origins of our triggers and train our bodies to remain calm in the face of traumatic experiences. In-the-moment exercises on how to process difficult emotions and physical manifestations are offered throughout the book to cultivate the inner resources necessary to deal with recurring trauma. When we are triggered, Richo writes, "we are being bullied by our own unfinished business." Explore what your body's knee-jerk reactions to trauma can teach you. Triggers- How We Can Stop Reacting and Start Healing acts as a guide to your body's powerful responses, helping you to remain calm under pressure and discover the key to emotional healing.

Reviews

David Richo helps normalize the fact that everyone has triggersand they can be a gift. Triggers point directly to interrupted spiritual work that can free us from suffering. This book offers creative tools to step aside from reactivity and engage the curiosity that can lead to deeper exploration and truly liberating discoveries.
Jan Chozen Bays, author of Mindfulness on the Go

Triggers can be experienced in two waysas negatives or positives, as automatic reactions or mindfully honed responses. The former is largely not in our conscious awareness, and the latter is what we hope to learn as we journey through life. Using science, philosophy, mindfulness practice, and his own life experiences, author and psychotherapist David Richo helps us develop the tools to do the hard work of examining ourselves, our relationships, and our pasts to heal our wounds and become the person we have the potential to be.
Sharon Salzberg, author of Real Happiness

In this potent book, David Richo offers a detailed map of the terrain for healing our triggers. With characteristic clarity, warmth, and depth, he provides a range of tools, insights, and practical exercises to actually do what weve so often heard taught: to respond rather than react. If taken to heart, this book will help us reclaim our power, serve as a catalyst for transformation, and teach us all how to step more fully into caring for each other and our world.
Oren Jay Sofer, author of Say What You Mean

With pointed yet compassionate advice, Richos exploration of triggers will appeal to those interested in the psychological benefits of acknowledging and working to understand troubling experiences.
Publishers Weekly

Acknowledging that there are no bulletproof vests for the psyche, Triggers is an empowering book that reframes triggers as guides into the psychological and spiritual work that needs to be done for deep healing to take place. What once provoked a cascade of damaging emotions becomes an invitation to learn, heal, and give and receive love.
Foreword Reviews

Particularly beneficial for anyone suffering from past pain, as well as those seeking to be more proficient at owning their own behavior.
Library Journal

Author Bio

DAVID RICHO, PhD, is a psychotherapist, teacher, and workshop leader whose work emphasizes the benefits of mindfulness and loving-kindness in personal growth and emotional well-being. He is the author of numerous books, including How to Be an Adult in Relationships and The Five Things We Cannot Change.