If Donald Trump Triggers You...

When Barack became President, many of us, including myself, projected unresolved father issues upon him, giving him more power than he actually had. Secretly I held hope that he might fix things for me, for others, and for the world. I projected upon President Obama what I would call my positive shadow self. I wanted him to be what only I could ever be, and only for myself: a savior.

Now, many of us, myself included, are projecting our negative shadow material onto President Trump.

While almost half our country and maybe even Trump himself might be projecting onto him the savior role, I suspect that most people on my email list are projecting (inaugurating) him into a role that is the opposite of savior.

If Trump triggers you, meaning watching or listening to him elicits fear, anger, rage, or sorrow, here’s my take on four options you have for dealing with it:

Option 1: Become Politically Active! If you are activated, get active! Turn your outrage into outrageous action... marching, peaceful resistance, donating your time or money. If you can’t stand Trump, turn your attention away from what you can’t stand and turn it towards what you do stand for. Anger is destructive when it is accompanied by a belief in powerlessness, but it is wildly constructive when directed towards what you love, what you do want to create. Channeled into your passion and commitment, rage is simply your life force waking up. Wake up, rise up, and go out there and change the world with all that energy. This is what fueled Martin Luther King. Have a dream! Be a game changer!

Option 2: Become Politically Inactive! If you get triggered when you think of Trump being the Prez, and you don’t want to get involved politically, then don’t. And I mean really don’t. Stay the hell away.

Put your energy where it wants to go.  Don’t watch or read the news unless you feel good about staying informed. Otherwise, let ignorance lead to your bliss. In other words, give yourself 100% permission to ignore (conscious ignorance) what is going on politically, and commit to filling your life with love and positive energy. Show yourself and your children that, whoever our ‘leaders’ happen to be, we are 100% responsible for leading ourselves and creating fulfilling lives.

Option 3: Bless Him! Whenever you read about or watch Trump, use the power of your intention to bless him and his work. See him as a Child of God doing his best. Choose peace. Send him love and light, and send love and blessings to the parts of you that dislike him intensely. The intensity of your dislike reflects that he is acting out disowned parts of you. So you can thank him for helping you see, integrate, and welcome home your disowned shadow.  A song of mine, The Asshole Song, might assist you in this noble quest.

Option 3 is not for everyone.

Funny how options 1 and 2 seem to be exact opposites, but they do have one thing in common: You make a commitment to avoid focusing on what you can’t stand, and instead keep your focus on what you stand for.

That means less complaining and venting. It means not hanging out in conversations with relatives, friends, Facebook or online chat rooms where the environment is filled with the addictive smoke of Ain’t it Awful.

Isn’t it interesting that so many people who would never dream of polluting their bodies with tobacco, crack or meth, will fill their minds each day with their mental equivalent.

Which leads us to our fourth option.

Option 4: Suffer! It’s a very popular choice, and so, on the bright side, you won’t be alone. There are millions of people on this planet who will stand in solidarity with you.

For me, I find that listening or watching Trump makes me cringe. And until that changes, until I can enjoy him as the character he is playing out without projecting upon him all my fears and unresolved issues, my choice will be to not listen or watch him. Why? Because I care about how I feel. I care about what I put into my mind as much as much as what I put into my body. I would not inhale from a crack pipe, so why would I inhale what the media offers me if it makes me smoking mad, scared, sad or frustrated?

If you are ready to make light of the part of you that reacts to Trump or in general feels like a victim of anyone or anything, if you are willing to have a big laugh at your ego’s expense, here is a funny song I wrote, a satire on Neal Sedaka’s classic song Breaking Up is Hard to Do. It’s called Waking Up Is Hard to Do, and it is the opening song in this here video.

So, to wrap this up, whoever is in the Oval Office becomes a projection screen for us to project what is unfulfilled or unresolved in our psyches. Part of our maturation process involves becoming willing to stop seeing our president as our leader, our savior or our devil, and commit to leading and saving ourselves, and maybe even our neighbors, and our planet.

And if you need some help in that process, I am always here with a song portrait or a coaching/healing session to steer you in a more positive direction.


With Joy,

Scott Grace