Avoiding being triggered

I would like to know how other people deal with triggers like seeing sexually suggestive photos online or seeing attractive people on the street.

Do you have any routines or little mind tricks to share?

I find my triggers were hard to see at first due to my strong headed denial of having this very creepy side of me. After I could accept them and see them more clearly I felt I could actively start to work on them. I’m trying to find effective ways of doing some damage control.

If I feel myself triggered in any way I have started little routines in my mind. The first one is to not look anymore. To just look away and try to think of something else. Not easy every time of course, so other method’s are needed.

The second one is to consider the real person that is turning me on and imagine that person’s life and personal struggles. That has helped tremendously in decreasing that creepy voyeuristic action that I have been doing beforehand.

The third one is to constantly put all of this in the vast context of sexually destructive behavior in the world and it’s vast consequences. My mind boggles about how much hurt about these things there seems to be worldwide. It helps me put things in context and generates a disgust in my own behaviour that makes me want to be a better person.