Deconstruct your reactions

Every day we move up and down autonomic ladder, sometimes feeling social and friendly, other times feeling rushed and agitated, and sometimes shut down and disconnected. All those feelings reflect our physiological responses to particular triggers (incidents, thoughts, any sensory input). Generally, it works in this order: Trigger (incident, thought) – physiological reaction (racing heart, queasy stomach, lightheadedness, increased blood pressure, etc) – emotion/feeling (your brain’s interpretation of the physiological reaction). We are usually aware of the end point of this process – the feeling that we experience.

This week let’s try to deconstruct our emotional reactions and see if we can trace them to a particular trigger.

HOW TO: Next time you experience a strong emotion of any sort, take a moment to notice the physiological component – how does it feel in your body? Check with your breathing, heart rate, stomach sensations, muscular activation, and so on. Then see if you can trace it back to the trigger – what made you feel that way? What did you hear, see, smell, touched, tasted, thought? You can then try to interpret why you had the reaction you had, just don’t get too attached to that interpretation.

For example, few hours ago I felt a wave of anxiety wash over me (feeling). I checked in with my body and observed slight shortness of breath, slight increase in the heart rate and mildly sweaty hands (physiological reaction). What was I doing when it happened? I was getting my boarding pass online for a cross-country flight (trigger). OK, this makes sense to me – flying always makes me feel uneasy, so now I know what this feeling of anxiety was about. Once I make sense of it, it is easier to move through it.

You can do these deconstructions with feelings big or small, and the more you do it, the easier it becomes. This practice also teaches you to differentiate between those three things (trigger, physiological reaction and feeling), which is essential for your mental-emotional well-being. Give it a try and see how it goes!