"The moment you wake up to your triggered mind
is the moment you choose to rewrite
your story instead of relive your old one."
Glenn S. Cohen
There’s a moment, often small and quiet when something inside signals, “You’ve been hooked.” It might be a tightening in your chest, heat in your face, or that rush of reactive emotion. That’s your early warning alarm. It’s your nervous system waving a red flag, not to punish you, but to invite you into presence.
I've learned that these triggers aren’t just annoying, they’re actually powerful portals. When I catch them in real time, I’m standing at a choice point: do I stay hijacked by old unconscious meanings, or do I pause, breathe, and choose something new?
Sitting with discomfort, really feeling it without judgment has become my training ground. The goal isn’t to fix or flee the feeling. It’s to befriend it, gently and curiously. That’s when I start to unhook from those protective patterns and all the inner commentators selling me old limiting beliefs.
Instead, I lean into my Mindful Empowered Leader values and apply the NI tools to guide my nervous system out of the red. I become the one who rewrites the narrative.
It takes practice. Intention. Repetition. I rewire by doing small brave things I used to think I couldn’t do. Each time I stretch through resistance, I collect a new empowered reference—flipping my internal lens from red to green.
And little by little, the way I process the present changes. My story changes. I change.
Healing, for me, isn’t about becoming someone else. It’s about remembering who I really am underneath all the noise. It’s about proving to myself, over and over, that I can do hard things—and actually feel proud doing them.
Like walking barefoot across a rocky riverbed, each step may sting at first—but with presence and practice, I find my rhythm, and the same stones that once hurt me now ground me. So I’ll ask you this: What would shift if the next time you were triggered, you saw it as a chance to heal, rather than a sign of something wrong?
If this resonates with you, I’d love to hear your story. Visit my website centerforni.com to schedule an initial interview session. You can also tune into my bi-weekly podcast, Lessons of Life, Love, and Healing, on Apple or Spotify. Subscribe to my Substack for daily reflections and as a gift, enjoy my CNI – Spiritual Soulful Healing Playlist on Spotify.
With big hugs and lots of love,
God bless,
Glenn 🙏🌻
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