Table of Contents
Introduction 1
1 What Triggers Us And Why? 9
Real and Imagined Triggers 18
When the Trigger Is Inside Us 21
Inner Demons 26
What Makes Triggers So Disturbing 30
2 Traumas And Resources 37
Childhood Wounds and Neuroscience 37
Healthy Ways to Connect Our Then and Now 39
How Much of Me Is Me? 45
3 How To Handle A Trigger 51
Handy Tools 53
Shadow, Ego, Early Life: What's Really Going On? 59
Practices That Increase Our Personal Inner Resources 68
4 The Sadness Trigger 79
Grief about What We Missed Early On 80
Mourning a Death 83
When Others Are Sad 85
Tears in Our Mortal Story 92
5 The Anger Trigger 95
Is It Anger or Abuse? 96
The Angry Ego 100
Why We Fear Others' Anger 102
A New World 105
6 The Fear Trigger 111
Both Desires and Fears 113
When Closeness Is Scary 115
Practices for Freeing Ourselves from the Grip of Fear 120
Mindfulness and Loving-Kindness for Fearlessness 122
7 Relationship Triggers And Resources 127
True Companions 131
When Our Feelings Are Hurt 134
Difficult Patterns in Relationships 138
States of the Union 142
Danger in the Electronics Sector? 143
Practices That Increase Our Relationship Resources 146
8 Spiritual Resources 153
When the Time Has Come 155
Neuroplasticity and Spirituality 157
Practices That Increase Our Spiritual Resources 159
Epilogue: The Fires That Show And Tell 171
Appendix: Affirmations to Free Ourselves from the Grip of Fear 175
About the Author 181
