The Trigger Reduction Game

Yesterday was a bit of a frustrating day. I woke up earlier than I planned and so didn't have the best sleep. My back felt like an absolute mess due to poor posture and playing football 2 nights in a row.

And my subscription for my usual office space had come to an end, but with going to Croatia next week I wasn't sure whether to renew it now or wait until I get back. I decided to wait. Nothing dramatic happened and overall things went pretty well. But, all in all, I wasn't at my best.

Now, in the past, little annoyances like this would have massively triggered me.

The uncertainty of what to do about my back or just the pain of it alone would've led to a spiral of junkie thinking, and then eventually a relapse.

Where-as now that I've rewired my brain, I understand that you don't need a reason to engage in compulsive behaviours. I know how the addicted part of the mind (APOTM) works and this new information is embedded in my brain.

For example, I now understand that when you are in an addiction - you are going to get triggered. This is simply how the addicted neural pathways work. The APOTM will constantly come up with new "triggers" over and over.

It is possible to try and manage and avoid and distract yourself from these triggers, temporarily. But, because the triggers come from the brain and not the external world - the triggers are not going anywhere. Eventually, you will get triggered again and experience urges.

And this is exactly why most people stay in their addiction for years and years going round in circles. People can spend decades in a hopeless, never-ending pursuit of trying to remove all of their triggers. However, the triggers come from the APOTM and as such we need to deal with the APOTM directly to get truly free.

Yesterday I made another rewiring quiz for our clients in the Beyond Compulsion Academy. Below is the final question of the quiz.

You can either play the trigger reduction game, hoping that the addicted neural pathways will magically one day change, or you can face the APOTM head on.

One option leads to temporary discomfort, the other leads to long-term suffering.

The choice is all yours.