Introduction

In this article, I will discuss what I feel is happening for the individual in response to stress and how they might assist themselves when they are triggered. The article covers a lot of material, and what I provide is a subset of my ideas on the issue in the hopes of helping others. I'll explain my perspective on being triggered, what I feel is going on, and what you should do about it. I'll attempt to cover as much as needed in order to answer as many questions as feasible for as many people as possible, while still keeping it easy, relevant, and somewhat short.

One difficulty I ran into when writing this was trying to be as broad as possible in order to answer as many questions as I could, but when you generalise issues, you lose a lot of meaning and complexities, making the concepts easier to dismiss. The only way to compensate for my generalisations is to consider them while reading, change the context of the analogies, and remember the spirit of what I'm saying. You will benefit more if you apply it to your own situation.

The impulse to avoid danger by being aware of oneself and one's surroundings is one of our basic instincts. However, everything has a disadvantage, and if you sense a danger where there is none, you risk overreacting. Furthermore, you have an instinctive tendency to foresee the worst-case scenario in every circumstance; inevitably, these two characteristics collide, and you sometimes make judgements that you subsequently regret. We are all prone to overreacting from time to time. When we are irritated, we respond and aggravate the situation. As someone who has overcome numerous triggers and as a therapist who helps others overcome theirs, I think I can help you overcome yours. I intend to give you a detailed overview of a perspective that I find valuable. This point of view, I hope, will give you fresh ways of dealing with your triggers and bring you to self-mastery, as it did for myself and others I work with. Changing your perspective may lead to better outcomes, self-control, feeling alive, and obtaining more of what you desire. Recognizing your trigger for what it is may assist you in being grounded and in charge of yourself, enabling you to get what you want and need in life rather than hating or regretting everything.

First and foremost

You are the one who has been triggered. Let's imagine someone called you a name or cut you off in traffic; maybe you heard or saw something upsetting, and you now need to complain about it. Because you are the one responding, you are the one who gets triggered and now you have a problem; you are now distracted and uncontrolled in some respects. The process starts with determining what the issue is, who is responsible for it, and what you should do about it. Being triggered is natural, healthy, and necessary; otherwise, you would not move out of the path of the oncoming bus. The issues arise from how you respond to the trigger, since some behaviours move you closer to your goal while others do not. When working with clients, I use the following analogy to demonstrate an important idea when looking at triggers:

Assume you're pulling out of your driveway when another driver races past and almost hits you. You had to slam on the brakes to prevent an accident, and you heard the other driver beep back at you. You see them as the kind of jackass you detest seeing on the road. "Do you think it was an irresponsible youngster," or a "damn delivery driver," or even "a foolish old fool," and you're irritated, right?

Would you be so upset if an ambulance rushed past you like that? No, and that is exactly the point. Yes, you were provoked, but not by the other motorist; you were more irritated by the fantasy you created in your head than by reality. Upset at an imagined other into whom you transferred a whole personality, and then angry at the fiction you created about them. The other car may have continued on their way without seeing you, and now you're all wound up. What if what happens in your brain irritates and angers you more than what happens in reality?

The Story You Tell Yourself

As you go about your day, the subconscious /primitive brain is constantly scanning for risk, looking for indications of threat and circumstances you detest. A trigger is an emotional response to a stimulus, such as something you have heard, felt, seen, or thought. For instance, you might see or hear something that triggers memories of a traumatic event or an old love. Someone might make you feel uneasy when you enter a room, or a friend might make a hurtful remark to you. In each of these scenarios, the moment you become aware of the stimuli, the older part of your brain automatically initiates a response, and part of this is the narrative you tell yourself.

You interpret and react in a way that is expected to keep you safe and the narratives help by having one-sided, straightforward, condescending viewpoints in which you are good and others are bad. The narrative is based on everything you have gone through from your point of view, with memories and feelings from a younger, more intense time leading to more potent narratives. The narrative aids in your escape from the circumstance, demonstrates your rightness in your thoughts, feelings, and actions, and removes some of the blame from yourself. The narrative is experienced in quick bursts of ideas and emotions. Think for a moment about a minor irritation you have. You should be able to identify the story you tell yourself in that situation by asking yourself a few "why" questions.

It's possible that you spend more time reacting to the stories in your head than to reality, and that you frequently change the facts to support your negative stories. The issue with being triggered in this way and not realising that you need to take responsibility for your own actions is that you are constantly dependent on other people. being capable of being provoked at any time into a state in which you are not actively thinking and reacting positively. For instance, it would imply that in a heated argument, your partner could press the secret button and utter a few words that would cause you to lose your cool and lose the conversation. Understand that if you respond angrily to something, others will follow suit. Consider the following scenario: You had a legitimate point to make in an argument when the other person changed the topic to distract you. If you wish to communicate correctly, staying in control and calmly returning to your point will be more successful than changing the topic. Consider that they have control if their trigger causes you to respond in a specific manner. Knowing your triggers may help you remain grounded and in control in more circumstances by allowing you to determine how you will feel ahead of time. Staying focused and in control, regardless of the circumstances, can help you do this more often.

Answer each of these questions while taking notes on your ideas to demonstrate how fast you can conjure up a tale.

Do you consider yourself mature?

Are you fair?

Are you truthful?

When you react to a question, you try to make yourself look and feel better. This may also be a false negative in which you try to seem worse (the game remains the same). Even if you know the answers to all of the questions are "I don't know," you must still demonstrate in some manner that you are who you claim to be. With the help of a well-crafted story, you can accomplish this without risking seeing aspects of yourself that you don't want to see.

Important Ideas (Know Your Monkey)

In my view, the ideal way to think about anything is to dissect it into its component parts and then use first-principles reasoning to determine what course of action should be pursued. The problematic component of this is the amount of processing power and effort necessary to take into consideration a broad variety of factors with varied degrees of confidence. Defining some of the elements that govern my views and highlighting areas that are prone to being disregarded might be beneficial. Here are a few thoughts that I find useful to keep in mind while I explore the perspective I will later explain.

The brain is divided into different levels, with the higher level being where logic and reason are found, and the lower level being the old, primitive brain that is emotion-driven and has its own logic and reason. Imagine the brain of a dog in order to understand the lower level; although animals are capable of expressing their feelings and emotions, it would be absurd to expect them to comprehend a simple children's story.

We do not see reality for what it is; what we see, hear, feel, etc. are signals from our senses, and these are easily deceived.

We have evolved to notice and react to danger and threats. We overreact to many things because the system is constantly looking for danger, is too sensitive for our modern lives, and is out of date.

The primitive brain is aware of things that you are not, and it will react to situations without your permission to protect you. Consider how you hold your breath before making a potentially risky comment or instinctively removing your hand from a hot surface. You may sense tension in situations when you don't believe you should; this may indicate subconscious awareness. The primitive brain has a faster route to action that circumvents the reasoning brain. It is conceivable that your overreaction is motivated from below.

The primitive brain requires security. The most important thing to the primitive brain is your survival. Because of this, you could occasionally feel weak or find it difficult to carry through with tasks that are at odds with other parts of you.

You enter a type of "flight or fight" response when you are startled. The primary objective of the primitive brain is to protect you. Your response will either be "fight," "flight," "freeze," or "flop," depending on the situation. You will act in a way that, in the short term, is most likely to keep you safe, according to the perspective of your primitive brain.

The mind is lazy; it prefers to think quickly and predictably, to break everything down into manageable topics, and to see the universe as being in black and white. Chocolate is great, salad is awful, and my political stance is true while the other's is not. The English are X, the French are Y, and the Americans are Z; this is where stereotypes begin. Yes, this is poor thinking, but you must accept the fact that this trait is generally beneficial.

The mind is incapable of telling the difference between reality and fantasy. Observe how terrified you feel when you wake up from a horrible dream because your brain cannot tell the difference between the two. You respond as though the dream were true the instant you wake up.

The primitive brain doesn’t use words to communicate. Consider how a pet might act under stress to appreciate that the primitive brain doesn't communicate with words. The primitive brain doesn't function with a language-based system. At the level of the brain where emotions and body language are communicated, actions speak louder than words.

The default mode of the primitive brain is fear and pessimism, which gives you the highest chance of living long enough to raise the next generation. The game would end if we opted for bravery and attempted to defeat the lion; it is preferable to flee and live to fight another day.

The mind is able to block or forget distressing occurrences. Most of the time, this talent is not required. However, it manifests in our capacity to significantly reduce the amount of what we experience. Things that are directly in front of us can be missed.

Let me break it down further now to clarify what I believe is happening a bit more clearly after considering these concepts. Looking at the automatic, predictable collection of thoughts, sensations, and emotions based on the self-described story you told yourself that is running through your mind. It is easy to predict your negative feelings/outburst. As a result of your brain's inability to distinguish between imagination and reality, it now responds to the story it has made by distorting reality to fit the narrative. You base your judgements on behaviours that appear reasonable, but since you base them on an excessive number of assumptions, the issue either lingers or becomes worse as your outburst is misguided.

Finding a New Perspective

Now that you are aware of the above concepts, let's examine another instance in which you may be triggered and react in accordance with the narrative you gave yourself. Imagine an argument with a close friend or significant other. They have just said something really unpleasant, upsetting, accusatory, blaming, or anything else that angers you. Your spouse may have just told you to leave, or they may despise you. Perhaps someone made a viciously insulting comment to you, or perhaps they made a disrespectful gesture toward you, or perhaps it was because they were walking away. The result is the same; you are the one who was triggered by another person's words or actions. Despite the fact that you may consider them accountable for setting off your trigger, you are the one responding angrily and escalating the situation. As a result of the "flight or fight" response, you feel terrible and are unable to think clearly. Your odds of responding in a manner that is advantageous to you have diminished dramatically. If you can quickly recognise that you are triggered and need to stay grounded, your likelihood of acting positively increases.

If I substitute a new collection of stories for the ones I used in the first example, you will see the possible change. What if the person who almost hit you while pulling out of your drive was in fact a young man driving a sports car who was obviously driving recklessly? But suppose this time you spotted him and thought, "Bloody hell, that was close; I'm competent for having noticed him." The narrative changes your emotions, and with only a slight adjustment, you suddenly behave differently and even enjoy your surprise. You may have also believed that the driver was attempting to reach the hospital while his wife was in labour, or any other story other than that this jerk should have his licence revoked. You get what you put out. It is obvious that the story you are telling yourself influences how you react to a trigger. So, how can we adopt more positive responses? In short, the transformation happens naturally as you become more conscious and develop an honest view of the world. Because you desire greater rewards and are able to express yourself more clearly, you naturally put out a better vibe and are rewarded accordingly.

Understanding and identifying the issue

To find a solution, you must alter your perspective; you must live in reality rather than in your thoughts. Not just the individual trees, but the entire forest, must be seen. There are ways to make it more difficult and few quick fixes; however, there are shortcuts and things you can do to make it easier. You hold the key to the problem, not someone else. The goal is to relax and take life less seriously while ultimately getting serious about responsibility by fighting against false beliefs and notions that don't serve you. The problem is more likely to be resolved by working through your inner issue instead of completely avoiding it or going around it. Accept your triggers for what they are: messages from you to yourself about how you are feeling. As you learn to trust these uncomfortable sensations, you might feel as though you are being asked to step on a landmine. This is a common reaction when you decide to consciously disregard the terrified part of yourselves advice and do the very thing it has been warning you against; in a sense, this will be the death of that part of yourself.

If you want to be untriggered, you must gain control of yourself and discover how to let go of everything else, as there is really no control over anything anyway. By doing this, you can choose how you feel in any situation. I tried it many times before, and I can assure you that complaining about the universe won't improve things. You do, however, have some degree of control over how you react, and this is the starting point. If you prioritise your need for control first, you will always feel empowered and more grounded. This will make it easier for you to decide on a constructive course of action. You have to work hard to retrain yourself if you want to feel better because you can't directly control your subconscious. While it takes more work than pointing the finger at others, the benefits are fantastic.

Because the mind is lazy, you search for a simple explanation from the outside world to justify how you feel, why you should not change, and how you should feel about your response. Learn to question the narratives you generate; you are always free to seek out more details before making decisions. I recommend being sceptical of the first account you hear (despite genuine danger), as experience reveals how flawed you can be. Take into account the instances when you convinced yourself to do something you knew you shouldn't because the story supported your feelings. You can gain insight into other aspects of yourself by taking some time to consider the trigger without criticising it. From this point, you can concentrate on how triggers affect you and how you can take care of yourself.

You will feel much happier and more in control after taking the time to reflect first, which will lead to better outcomes and relationships in all areas of your life. It's difficult to describe how you improve in so many different ways without sounding like a wonder drug commercial. The difficult thing to realise is that you are constantly at war with yourself, not with the other person, completely unaware of it, and getting caught in repetitive, old patterns.

How to change

How do I stop getting triggered, you ask? I always respond. "You don't; you stop caring about the trigger." You reach a certain level or stage of maturity and stop worrying about the trigger, just as you stopped worrying about things you did as a child. The triggers don't change; reality doesn't change; what does change is how you perceive it.

Imagine daily traversing a path through the woods; over time, the path would get easier, the ground would get firmer, and you would stop noticing it. Imagine having to take a different route because the previous one was impassable. It seems impossible to imagine walking this route every day due to the grass, overgrowth, and obstructions like branches and bushes in your path. Here, you must accept the fact that your daily path will not be the same each time. The hardest part is starting and sticking to it; as you get used to the new pathway, the path becomes exponentially easier until you again fail to notice it.

If your view or story is consistent with what you see outside your window, you might see litter, graffiti, scarcity, famine, fear, and anger. You undoubtedly have a long list of arguments to support your assertion that this is the actual reality. Realise that someone else, or even you on a different day, will somehow see flowers, rainbows, happiness, and hope while gazing out that window because you are attempting to support your viewpoint or story. You can become more conscious of how you focus on your triggers. Stop allowing your primitive brain to rule you without first making sure you are satisfied with the outcomes. Start by taking in as much reality as you can to build your understanding of the world around you and understand that other people have different points of view.

Learning to let go

To let go of the story you believe, to stop defining yourself by who you think you are or were, who you want to be, or who you believe others to be, and to live in the moment are all essential parts of this work. If you believe you frequently make poor decisions on instinct (despite obvious real danger), you can expose your story for what it is: a single point of view on a situation. Learn to take a step back and consider the situation more broadly before reacting. By doing this, you have a better chance of seeing more of life as it actually is, as opposed to how you would like it to be or how you feel it should be. You will then have a greater chance of making a positive contribution. Why do you believe your single point of view when any police officer could tell you that if they interviewed five witnesses, they would each have a different account? When your thinking brain is activated, give it something to do. Before you act, consider whether your story is based on black-and-white thinking. Do you possess bias? Recognize that sometimes it is better to strike while the iron is cold. How often do you reflect on your actions and wish you had acted differently? The key is to start by thinking about what you need to stay grounded and in control.

Ironically, you probably have trouble avoiding your trigger because you spend so much time thinking about it; you are what you give your attention to. When you try to avoid thinking about something all day, you inevitably end up thinking about it. The goal is to shift your attention to something else and concentrate there instead. Although it might seem like I'm saying "fake it until you make it," I'm not a fan of that strategy. By identifying a more important meaning in life that is deserving of your attention, you can shift your attention, the goal is to genuinely move past the triggers. Consider a time when you were ill but managed to complete the task at hand, or when you were perhaps upset about something that occurred, but you managed to put it aside and still managed to enjoy yourself. These situations teach you how to set priorities and let things go. Imagine someone who, upon learning they have a limited time to live, allows themselves the freedom to say, "F-you, world," and who then reports, as is expected, feeling better and more alive than before. The outside world hasn't changed, but a shift in perspective can have a big impact on your life.

How and Why should I change?

You must first understand that "how" to change is meaningless without a compelling "why." If you want to find the answer to your question about how to change, the answer is to forget the how, as how to change is not really up to us as we can not predict how we will act in the moment. We don't like to deviate from the status quo, so you need a compelling reason to keep you motivated on your path of change. Say you want to stop getting angry and snapping when you're stressed. You might want to say the appropriate thing at the right time. Maybe you want to live in peace and be free of triggers. It would be beneficial if you had a compelling reason to motivate all of the effort and changes required to achieve your desired outcome; a legitimate reason to behave differently when it is more work than pointing the finger at the other.

The answer to how to change is both difficult and simple. Consider a drug addict. It's simple to quit; simply put it down and you're done. It's simple to change when the addict has a true purpose to change; before then, the addict is struggling with portions of themselves that desire various things. Focusing on why you want to change will help you achieve longer-term results. If the addict had a good reason why to quit that worked on all levels, the addiction would lose most of its grip.

Assume you want to meet someone new but are afraid of rejection. Perhaps you are longing to vacation but are frightened of flying. The difference here is that knowing why to change can make all the difference. Imagine falling in love with someone from another nation. If your reason for defeating the instinctual reaction is compelling enough, you will feel compelled to change despite your anxiety. A great reason for changing is more essential than how you will change. When you trust this process, you are more in sync with yourself, and most of the anxious questions will no longer make sense or even arise. Because difficulties are an inevitable part of life, the goal is to find productive ways to deal with them and to have better problems than infantile ones. Listening to and accepting responsibility for your needs provides you with the best opportunity to feel the way you want to feel. Let go of how you will change and focus on why you want to change, with an emphasis on how you want to feel. A compelling reason to change is to feel better/happier more of the time.

Consider this if you're unsure why you should make one modification over another. If you make it a rule that your happiness is determined by things outside of your control, you've already lost since you staked your happiness on a result you can't control. This disempowerment tactic is a learned helplessness habit; you can choose to feel what you want in more instances, and you can discover how to see life in a whole new light. The biggest motivation I've discovered for changing is to guarantee that I am always in control of my actions. If I am easily provoked, I risk making things worse for myself. Understanding your triggers rather than fearing them might help you gain self-control. Assume you are continually dealing with the same problem in your relationships. Better relationships might be the answer to why you should change. Perhaps you want to feel different when provoked; the answer to why you want to change is to feel calmer. Concentrate on why you want to change, emphasising how you want to feel and what you can do now to feel more like that. The objective is to start thinking long term. You won't always know what to do, but thinking beyond the present instant can help you establish your own set of beliefs and principles that will help you act in a more productive manner over time.

When you are faced with fear and anxiety, the more primitive portion of your brain will suggest that you flee the situation or hide, which is exactly what it ought to suggest. You can see that there is little purpose in battling an emotion that is meant to aid you since it will only serve to frustrate you. The solution, as far as I can tell, is to pay attention to your instincts but act in a way that brings you peace. Imagine that you need to make a presentation or that you want to ask someone out on a date.

How would you go about doing any of these things? This is something that is quite obvious to the primitive brain; get away from there! If you make a mistake, you will look foolish, or they will see a side of you that you despise; your desire to flee or conceal yourself is likely to be heard loud and clear. It is futile to argue with this position, given that it is ultimately your opinion. Learn how to relax yourself by developing the talent of recognising feelings and messages without attaching a narrative to them. I've discovered that accepting a negative or fearful feeling works far better than denying how you truly feel. Ultimately, the primitive brain can find a way to meet its safety needs by forcing you to pay attention with a nice little panic attack. Recognizing the emotion for what it is, a message from yourself warning you of a potentially dangerous circumstance, Say something straightforward to yourself, such as, "Yes, I understand the risk; thank you brain, I'm alright though." Recognize your subconscious, your gut instinct, your inner voice, and yourself, and affirm that you're ok. If you encounter opposition, such as unfavourable emotions or ideas, you don't really believe yourself. If this is the case, figure out why. Until you learn how to relax yourself, you'll probably feel uncomfortable. In difficult circumstances, if you're not conscious of your feelings, you run the danger of overreacting. Your true problems probably begin here because you respond to stress in a manner that you might have prevented, which creates a vicious cycle where you feel powerless as you watch your life fall apart.

To show yourself that you are okay and handling your worry, I find it beneficial to laugh a bit and playfully exaggerate the stress. In your brain, utter acknowledging words in a light-hearted manner. "Yes, there are a lot of people there, and yes, I'm sure it'll be okay if I stumble on stage or say something stupid; it makes me human and relatable." "If they hate my idea, that's okay since it will give me a better picture of what they dislike and how to fix it." You may think to yourself during a disagreement, "Yes, what they did was bad, but bringing it up now won't help." Instead of inflating the problem, the goal is to manage oneself honestly. Try it. Oddly, agreeing with the fear in a humorous way may help.

You would anticipate that acknowledging your worry would worsen your feelings. However, you are setting the tone by emphasising how you are OK rather than how you are not. By expressing your emotions in this way, you lighten the atmosphere and demonstrate that you understand it, are at ease, are aware of the threat, and are in control; this calms the monkey, which has done its job now. You are braver, more resilient, and more capable than you think you are. Change your narrative by emphasising the truth of these claims rather than their falsity.

Solutions and exercises

I'll summarise the major elements below to help you understand what I've stated and to clearly demonstrate what you can do to support yourself when triggered. It is difficult to determine what may be of particular assistance to you. Go through these suggestions, and if you find yourself having a negative response to any one point, you should begin there and spend some time considering how that point fits into the wider picture.

When triggered:-

Make a shift in your viewpoint so that you can see alternative perspectives. Assume that you are incorrect and look at the situation from every viewpoint. There is another point of view, and it is completely different from yours.

Recognize the emotions you're experiencing, and don't try to push them away by pretending they don't exist.

Your mental condition should be the primary focus of your attention. Find things that you are able to manage, such as your breathing, and let go of the impulse to control everyone and everything around you. You alone are accountable for your actions and behaviours.

Put some distance between yourself and the stimuli that prompted your reaction. Exercise restraint on your impulse to react until you are calm.

Focus your attention on how you want to feel and strive to feel that way no matter what.

Decide that you want to win more often by fighting the right battle at the right time and in the right way.

If you behaved like an adult, it would also help to guarantee that you did not reply in a juvenile manner, which would add to the problem. Consider how a respectable adult would act in this circumstance, and make it your goal to behave in the same way.

Lighten up; you cannot be stressed and playful simultaneously.

Be kind to yourself, forgive your errors, and give yourself permission to grow. It is necessary to feel remorse or humiliation for mistakes; nonetheless, thrashing oneself is unhelpful.

Stop feeling entitled and start appreciating what you have; it's difficult to oppose something or someone you are grateful to. Begin by being thankful for your life and learning to find the bright side of every situation.

Think about what you want out of life in the long term; be specific about your objectives, and make sure they are a worthy endeavour that will result in a life that is full of joy and fulfilment.

When triggered, think about how you would have wanted to have behaved when reflecting back, and then make it a goal to act in a way that reflects that.

You need to learn to relax and stop worrying that the end of the world will be brought on by insignificant events in order to be untriggerable. Get in the habit of letting things go.

Before attempting to fix others, you can always do something to improve yourself, giving you the ability to determine how you feel.

Think about your principles, morals, and values. Consider how you want to be treated by others. Evaluate if you live up to your standards; you cannot expect what you don't provide.

Take time to ask yourself, "How am I feeling right now?" as frequently as you can. Just check in, leave the sensations alone, don't try to alter anything, and just observe how you feel. Doing this over time will show you a pattern of where you feel pressured, and by checking in without trying to change, you get the same benefit as meditation in that you can let go and live in the moment instead of always trying to change the outside to make yourself feel better on the inside.

You've probably received signals from your inner voice about what you should and should not do to change. The solution is to learn to do more of the things you are afraid of and to take conscious control of the result.

The list of things you can do to improve yourself is long, the most important of which is to learn to ask yourself what you should do. Every client I've worked with has learned to search inside for answers, and every one of them has had an inner voice telling them what they could do. If you look inside yourself with kindness and care, you are more likely to find what you need to help yourself than if you look somewhere else.

The Arguments

When I offer suggestions that may help, the most common response I hear is, "Yes, but..." or some elaborate version of it. We all have an active mind and nervous system that resists anything perceived as a threat to our safety. The natural response we all have to reject suggestions has helped shape my perspective, ideas, beliefs, and opinions. When a client says, "Yes, but..." it’s often said as a retort, a kind of argument. I enjoy a good debate, a verbal arm wrestle in which the client argues why it's okay to do X or not to do X because of Y. To share how I generally respond to these statements, to answer questions you have undoubtedly had throughout this article, and to show my ideas in practical use. to assist you in shifting your perspective and offering alternative ways of being, but mostly because I enjoy the arm wrestling. I will end this part of the article by starting what may be the most significant part of it.

The arguments can be found below. These are the types of reactions I offer when I hear remarks such as, "If I don't shout at them, they don't listen", or "If they didn't do X, then I wouldn't feel like this." These are my broad reactions to the broad outline of what was said. They're all simplified representations of regular life; look beyond the parallels to get the meaning. To get the most out of the arguments, check for all of your triggers as you read and take note of your own agreements and disagreements.

In this article, I am not claiming that this is the ideal way to perceive things; it is only one method, and even then, it is not the whole picture, but rather an introduction to this way of seeing. I hope you found it intriguing, and if nothing else, I hope it made you think and feel a little more.

This is a working document; I will revise it over time and add new arguments as they arise. You are invited to leave arguments that you would want to see included or to express your opposing viewpoints in the comments section below, send me an email, or use the contact form. I welcome any input, good or bad, but I really want to know why you believe I'm incorrect, since this will help me reinforce my case.

I hope you've liked my first foray into writing and sharing my thoughts. I'll start writing the next post soon; this one took a long time to get to this point, so I'm thinking the next one will be a piece of cake. Thank you for taking the time to read this; I hope you found it useful.

Steve D