You know what your hot button is; it is that topic which when raised raises your blood pressure and lowers your capacity to think clearly, in inverse proportion.
Where do these hot buttons originate? Now that is difficult to say, but they have to do with some issue or event in your past which has left a lingering memory. These memories do not have to rational, even to yourself, let alone to anyone else, but what they do to us is sometimes frightening. We go straight to re-action, no “pass go-collect $200.00.” Nope, everything turns red when our hot button (or buttons) are pushed.
Now, we can let these issues continue to rule us, or we can choose to take back our power and disable the power to this fabled button once we identify them. Oh yes, there is probably more than one hot button in our little bag of tricks. Once again this is your choice: rule them or be ruled by them. I heard a phrase attributed to a wonderful teacher named Kathy Hearn: “I may have pushed your hot button, but I didn’t install it!”
In my book It’s All About Me we look at why these hot buttons exist, how they came to be, what they do for us, and how we can be active in controlling their operation. We talk about “sticky memories” and recognizing the urge to re-act before it becomes an issue for those around us. I invite you to look into this process with me in It’s All About Me, just click the link below and get your own copy.
