✦The Shift
Detriggering

What is Detriggering? Taking the meaning back out.

Detriggering is taking away the meaning you have attached to a moment, so you get out of a triggered moment fast and back to yourself.

Judith Shekoni, The Shift · Updated 20 September 2026
01

Putting it in.

In acting, you add something. The line is just "I want a donut". What you actually do is go to your own past experience. You find the time you wanted a Barbie doll, your mother didn't give it to you, and then you never saw your mother again. That's really traumatic to you.

So you place it into "I want a donut", and now it has massive stakes. I must get this donut no matter what. When you don't get the donut, you're devastated, because you've tagged your past meaning, your past experience that was traumatic, to this one.

Your body does the same thing all day. Why you get triggered so easily.

Detriggering is exactly the opposite. We take where you have attached meaning, and we take it away.

02

A + B = C.

A + B = open

A happens, you add B, and it equals C. A happens again, you add B, it equals C. Every time A happens, you add something to it from your past, and you create an outcome that replicates the ones that happened before. That's why you find the patterns.

What we do is, when A happens, we don't add the B. The B wants to come in, and every part of your body is going to be absolutely sure that that is what B is. We withhold it anyway. And then it won't equal C. It's open again.

How to Detrigger

The S.H.I.F.T. method.

Five steps for the moment something lands. The full method is on The Method page.

  1. S
    Spot

    Catch the moment you start adding meaning.

    "Oh my God, I know what that means." That is the moment to spot.

  2. H
    Hear the old meaning

    Recognise the B.

    The past meaning is trying to attach to this moment. Every part of your body is going to be absolutely sure that that is what B is. Hear it, but don't add it.

  3. I
    Interrupt

    Don't add it, and wait.

    Remove the meaning. You repeat:

    • There is no meaning here.
    • This has no meaning.
    • This means nothing to me.
    • It is open.
    • I make no meaning out of this.

    And don't impose. While there's meaning, you don't make any actions, you don't take any steps, you don't do anything. You wait. When you've removed the meaning and you haven't imposed, you've Detriggered yourself. You're in a Detriggered state, waiting for something to come into that space rather than filling it.

  4. F
    Find information

    Ask questions from a completely clean place.

    It's called mining for information. You're not imposing and you're not adding meaning, so your questions are clean and pure, and they're about the other person: Could you give me more clarity on that? What do you think that would be? What would that look like for you?

  5. T
    Take Action

    Now take action, from here.

    Only now do you decide, speak, leave, stay, ask, build or act.

03

An example from my own life.

I get a message from my partner. Oh my God, I know what that means, because last time he said I couldn't do something. That's already me adding the B.

So the thing I want to do isn't going to happen. There's my conclusion. And if it's not going to happen, I'm going to have to do X, Y and Z. I've added meaning, and I've imposed.

What I need to do instead, no matter how certain I am, is go back to not adding meaning, not imposing, and waiting.

Both sides

We come after the trigger from both sides.

In the moment

Detrigger

If it still has a charge, you’ll get triggered. So we teach you how to get out, fast, before you're stuck in Survival Mode.

At the root

Heal the system

On the deeper level, we work on the system so you don't get triggered by the things you used to. How to heal your triggers. How a trigger turns into Survival Mode

You don't need to become better at coping with Survival Mode. You need to learn how to leave it.
Free live · Tuesday 6 October · 7pm UK

Learn to Detrigger, live with Judith.

The Detriggering Workshop is a free live hour online with Judith Shekoni.

Save my free seatTake the trigger quiz

The Shift is personal development and education, not therapy or medical treatment.