The Mere Concepts Of Triggers

I can agree with these points and understand where you're coming from, Its just like "Yep i'm not gonna PMO for 7 days, Oh look a female, well I can't control my mind, may aswell give up now". Because that means you haven't changed your mindset, this isn't a physical challenge Its almost fully psychological and Its all based upon your decicions.

The idea of "appreciation" of triggers makes sense, you gotta look at them and be like "You really think something like that will make me give up on my goal?" the concept of a trigger does spawn from weakness as they only effect you if deep in your mind you want to give up.

But not medication, I don't believe you can truly succed in this challenge if you become dependanrt on an exeternal force to get you through it such as medication Its all gotta come from your mental strength to remove PMO as an option.

 

This makes a lot of sense and I believe the concept of triggers are in your mind. Your mind/addiction is looking for an excuse to give in, but triggers for an addict can be real in the beginning stages of fighting an addiction and they/you need to be re-trained.
But medication is not the answer.
You then become dependent on the meds.
One addiction is replaced by the other.
Meds aren't needed for PMO withdrawal.

 

Hey Prominent,

Not too sure what your definition if a trigger is, but if we use the typical definition, I'd have to disagree and say that recognising your triggers is the most important part of trying to rewire your brain.

To me, a trigger is basically something that sparks the brain into trying to execute the "PMO.exe" file. If you read "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg, he outlines a habit as having a cue (or trigger), a routine, which is basically a chunk if behaviour, and a reward at the end. So in the context of habitual PMO, the trigger causes the PMO.exe file to run, which then gives the reward of a dopamine hit.

Knowing what your triggers are is the first step to trying to fix the brain. If you are aware of what triggers can potentially start the cycle, then you can replace the routine (which is currently "PMO.exe") with another routine that gives the same reward, like say "Run_5k.exe" or "Call_a_friend.exe".

So the way to slowly rewire the brain is to associate new routines like calling a friend or exercise with the old triggers, like loneliness, feelings of boredom etc., and slowly override the PMO.exe file, until you don't really associate PMO with these things anymore. And I think that's what you mean when you talk about "developing stronger physical and mental patterns". But I believe that this development CAN ONLY HAPPEN EFFECTIVELY if we are consciously aware of the triggers in the first place.

 

I definitely agree. When we hold onto the notion that triggers are real, we set ourselves up in a way for failure. However, we still need to be on guard against temptation yet at the same mindfully acknowledge the temptation and have the spiritual stamina and strength to move on and leave it! Triggers are really just things out there, whether biologically, physically or emotionally that impact our willpower to say yes to the trigger or no to the trigger. When our pre-frontal cortex and decision making part of our brain takes charge, and develops more fully when we work on overcoming our addiction, I believe these triggers become less and less of a thing.

 

I can see both sides of this and think there are valid points each way. My question would be "so what makes a trigger a trigger?" There are sexual variations that might trigger on things that have absolutely no interest for me or I feel are repugnant. And things I need to be careful of that wouldn't affect someone else. So while a trigger is certainly "all in the mind" but that doesn't make it any less real. Things in my mind are real things too - and very powerful. They have all the power the mind gives them - which might be a lot depending on the stage of my reboot. That's why we (or some of us) see ourselves as addicts. Aspects of our minds have got totally out of control and when we're in a full on addiction phase triggers can be very powerful. So my aim is certainly to get to the point where triggers lose their power and influence, when I've rebooted to the extent that my brain no longer reacts the way it used to. And I feel I have made a lot of progress in that direction. But I don't want to be overconfident. I'm still living with a wild animal that can turn and bite me. I need to treat it with respect. So I need to consciously 1) be aware that something might have a triggering effect 2) be mindful and purposeful in not giving it inappropriate space in my mind 3) certainly not letting it grow into the fantasy movie it once would have.

So yes - it would be great if triggers no longer exist as such but I suspect many of us aren't quite there yet...Just my experience at the stage I'm at.