Triggers: How We Can Stop Reacting and Start Healing

When I read the reviews of this book, I knew I had to get it. It did not disappoint. It's an excellent breakdown of complex science so that the layperson can apply it to their lives. I especially love the tables and quick references guide. As with anything that's deep-rooted, there is no quick fix/magical genie in this book to wipe away all your triggers. What you will get is a sense of understanding, a way to record and reflect upon your triggers, and learn how to achieve peace - but you will still have to do the heavy lifting to meditate, journal, reflect, and catch your triggers. I have personally found this book to be quite calming to read and actually pull it out during stressful times and read to calm myself down and remove myself from my lizard brain thinking.

Triggers is a masterful work that can serve as an entry point for anyone seeking greater equanimity, skill, courage, and compassion in these difficult times. David Richo offers his treasury of insight as a psychotherapist and spiritual teacher to help us better understand our encounters with triggers, also the very real impacts they have upon our relationships. Utilizing clear explanations and readily actionable tools, Richo delves into the contours of three primary triggers – sadness, anger, and fear – and provides us with the resources necessary to transform our immediate reactions into healthy responses we can be proud of. By bridging psychological and spiritual resources, Richo fluently speaks to the fullness of the human experience and the deeper longings within us. I have read more than a dozen of Richo’s books and listened to many of his available lectures. I regularly revisit them and gift them to friends. This is one of his best. It is truly rare to have such intimate access to the life’s work of a contemporary luminary like Richo. His prolific writing across a variety of topics singularly reflects his continuing commitment to help others heal from trauma and access the grace dimension of life even in the most challenging of conditions.

This book helped with my healing process and deep diving into what triggers are, where they stem from and how to heal it. This book definitely made me more self-aware and taught me how to identify my triggers and the deeper rooted problems. I recommend this book to everyone going on their healing journey.

Very beautifully written and easy to follow. Even the most complex issues are explained with all types of readers in mind. Highly recommended.

I thought it would be a bunch of tips to help with triggers but that's only the beginning. This book explained what's actually going on with triggers in a way that helped me feel compassion for myself and others. I've heard people talk about what triggers can teach you before but there is something about the way Richo describes it that made me really hear it for the first time. If you're skeptical about there being anything that can really help, then read this.

Incredible rich resource on self mirroring. It helps you to stop blaming your peers, partner or parents by turning your knowledge about yourself upside down. Towards the end it can get a little fudgy. The truth is I know to little of Buddhism to judge properly. The fact this loving-kindness triggered some ridicule in me is a sign I need to work on this department. So I have learned after reading this book. Read power and force. Although great book about ‘sitting with your pain’ there is no practical component. This book breaks this down with great practical tips to help you grieve and find solace in the things we cannot change and get the courage to change the things we can. Thank you David for your eloquent words.