I had a friend, we’ll call him ONE, who got triggered by another friend, TWO. ONE and TWO are part of a most amazing, beautiful family of aliens from another dimension that I joined, not through blood, but through Dust. ONE and TWO have feuded publicly in our family WhatsApp channel many times, and it is usually uncomfortable for everyone involved. For whatever reason, they trigger each other. I find it all sad, because I experience both of them as squishy Care Bears with a passion for hugs, tea, and mind altering substances.

Anyway.

The alien family was having a conversation inspired by the HitchHiker’s Guide on WhatsApp, and I wrote:

I actually think Elon is just doing his best to science his way out of our predicament when the only way out is our collective healing and raising of consciousness to the level necessary to join the Galactic Federation and be welcomed by our alien brothers and sisters and whatever they identify as. 🌵🐝🔥

ONE responds a multi-page essay beginning with:

Lol Yuan you had me until Galactic Federation. I still haven't made up my mind on what the phenomena is/are. I recently read American Cosmic, which is awesome by the way, by a religious scholar who spent a couple years studying the phenomena/phenomenon and speaking to some of the leading experts.

ONE expresses many beautiful sentiments to which TWO then responds:

Nowhere in my understanding or faith in a universe of possibilities was a reality where I read a long-ass thread post from ONE that I found interesting and/or felt aligned with. Yet here it is. Anything is possible. Our acceptance into the Federation is all but guaranteed!

ONE gets really upset, and then starts emotionally vomiting in the room. ONE rants and complains publicly. He doesn’t understand why TWO can’t see that he is awesome. (He is.) It wasn’t pretty. TWO has also vomited all over the room in the past. The details are unimportant. ONE also messages me in a side conversation… lamenting.

I tell ONE:

Except that's your stuff, not his... Just revel in your awesomeness.

It's kind of like when Kanye says, “I just delivered a symphony.”
It's extraneous. So defending it kinda ruins it.
“Didn't you see? I just dropped the mic.”

ONE responds:

“Fuck you Yuan. You wise bastard.”
“FINE.”

When other people offend us, it is a signal. Drama is inevitable on some level. It seems that the key is to elevate consciousness, so that one can respond rather than react. Sometimes a trigger is an opportunity, because when a reaction is stronger than our ability to control it, there is trauma to explore. Trauma is not an event that happens to you. It’s what happens inside when an event happens to you, that is a defense mechanism to protect our past selves.

It may manifest as a need to be liked, a need to be right, a need to be heard.

Not everyone will like us, we won’t always be right, we won’t always be heard.

Social media uses these needs to manipulate us with likes and follows. Letting go of these needs is the answer. Surrender leads to freedom.