Triggers

It's like putting on an old pair of slippers - every part knows exactly where to go.

The kid worry drops neatly into place, right at the top of my head and next to my heart, right there in the middle of my breastbone.

The husband worry sits below it, more gut-centric.

They sit there, pulsing, squeezing my brain as I work to remove them, bit by tiny little bit or one big NO! at a time.  Albert Ellis gave me that trick after he did a one hour session with a mother and daughter on a stage in front of a room of social workers - and declared them cured.  After the somewhat awkward applause ended, he offered each one of us a free session, right there and then.  

Just say NO!

Really.  Well before Nancy Reagan, Albert Ellis told me that when those bad dumb stupid thoughts were overtaking my brain, all I needed to do was scream, out loud, NO!  and they would be gone.  Strangely, most of the time, it works.

It's the anti-trigger, breaking the link between that loud noise and my inner collapse.  It's empowering. It's cleansing.  And, if you will excuse me, I'm going outside to do just that.