Triggers
How We Can Stop Reacting and Start Healing
Calling the belief that people are fully in charge of their feelings a “dangerous illusion,” David Richo’s Triggers is about disarming the words, people, thoughts, and events that are hot-wired to negative responses and turning them into resources for growth and healing.
“Triggers,” sometimes called “buttons,” hit the limbic system, the part of the brain in charge of emotion, and turn capable people powerless, unable to defend themselves or respond in a rational way. It happens so fast that there’s no time to step back and make a wise choice about how to respond. “No one gets a life with no triggers at all,” advises the book, whose transformational advice draws upon scientific research, psychology, and spirituality, with emphasis on the teachings and practices of Buddhism.
Designed to enhance awareness and understanding of personal triggers and provide tools to disarm them, the book moves beyond reactions to encourage approaching life in a realistic, down-to-earth way, redirecting wishful thinking and disempowering statements (like “everything happens for a reason”) toward more useful mindsets. From this perspective, every moment becomes an opportunity to engage with what is and to practice mindfulness and loving-kindness.
Thought-provoking, intense, and compassionate, the book encourages growing toward evolutionary spirituality by using the brain’s amazing ability to change its neuroplasticity and become more than what was previously thought possible.
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.
Reviewed by
Kristine Morris
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
