Dysregulation occurs when we have a disproportionate response to emotional or psychological stimuli.

Informally, the stimuli that cause this are our ‘hot buttons.’

At the end of last year, as part of my 100 Day Plan, I made a list of my top dysregulation stimuli.  There are 9 of them.  (I wanted 10 as a Nice Round Number, but there wasn’t a 10th, so I decided not to sweat it.)

This was new to me; I hadn’t tried it before in a formal way.  So far, it seems to be working.  It’s a tool that reinforces that I’m responsible for my own reactions, which in the end, are the only thing I really control.  

The work on this took a several hours over the course of a few iterations to arrive at a list I felt was balanced, but it was well worth the effort.

Using my LDL (Little Dysregulation List) doesn’t mean I am suppressing emotions in an unhealthy way.  It also doesn’t mean the things I am reacting to are trivial or that I shouldn’t put in place plans to address them.  The idea is to bring awareness to what may cause me to overreact and modulate.  This way, if I am going to do something, I can think and feel through what to do.  Or if I am going to accept the problem, I can work on doing so with equanimity.  

And I feel happier overall when I do all this, which is a good thing.

-Chris