Shadowing Practice: Whatever triggers you is trying to set you free. - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
227 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
An emotional trigger acts as a subconscious block deep in our psyche.
2
And when something triggers us, whether it be something we're aware of or something rather deep in our unconscious
3
that we're not really aware of and we only become aware of it through the emotions that we feel when encountering it,
4
we can notice that there's usually a string attached to the trigger that leads to something in particular.
5
So the first way we'll talk about it is a thought that triggers you.
6
So a thought will trigger you because obviously you still believe thoughts hold any sort of value in your life, any sort of weight.
7
So if we still have not tackled the belief system that we are not our thoughts, we may be continually sort of bullied by thoughts in the years to come.
8
Because the only way out of thoughts is mindfulness.
9
And Mindfulness is the practice of realizing you are not your thoughts.
10
So when a thought triggers you emotionally, it creates a lot of fear inside you and it makes you scared.
11
Notice not necessarily what the thought is telling you, but how that feeling becomes sort of clear in your body.
12
Where do you feel that fear and where do you feel scared or result of that thought triggering you?
13
It's not necessarily that we have to get rid of that thought, but we have to learn to sit with and not become bullied and pushed into a corner by the emotion of fear.
14
So that's what a thought can trigger us into doing.
15
It can trigger us into acting in a way that is avoidant
16
and into acting in a way where we're not experiencing our life the way we really want to.
17
And I hold an interesting viewpoint in this triggering sort of overthinking relationship,
18
whereas I think each thought that triggers you into fear, into an emotional reaction, is actually trying to set you free.
19
And it's trying to set you free to the idea of that you are not your thoughts.
20
Because think about it, if you deal with bad thoughts, if you deal with thoughts that are irrational and sort of doomsday fear inducing,
21
you are far more likely to question the nature of your
22
thoughts as a result of your suffering than someone who doesn't deal with those thoughts.
23
So those thoughts are trying to trigger you into a sort of freedom.
24
They're trying to trigger you into a mindfulness-based freedom.
25
We can also become triggered by relatively random things.
26
We can become triggered by a commercial due to trauma or due to the past experiences in our lives.
27
We can be triggered in relationships.
28
We can be triggered by what people say.
29
And the string I'm connecting right now is an emotional trigger.
30
So it triggers an emotion inside of us
31
that we don't want to feel and maybe it's triggering an idea of the future that we don't want to happen.
32
But either way, when the trigger is pulled either by someone's words or by seeing something and we're feeling those emotions again, that trigger is acting as a sort of point in
33
which we can be free because it can trigger us into freedom or it can trigger us into spiral.
34
And by what I mean by spiral is sort of spiraling into overthinking, into avoid an action, into sort of existing and ruminating in our darkness.
35
if we pay attention then we can see that
36
when we become triggered so say you're having a conversation with someone
37
and you have an idea of the future that you're really scared of
38
and you don't want to persist right
39
and you've been working on creating distance from this fear
40
because you know it's irrational and you know it's just something
41
that you have to create distance from and not give any life to.
42
So you've been practicing this on your own for quite some time
43
and you're having a conversation with someone and then they mentioned that as, I don't know, maybe off the whim or maybe they make a joke about it.
44
And all of a sudden you feel that trigger in your body.
45
You feel that same fear, you feel scared and you feel the emotions
46
sort of existing in your body in a way in which maybe you haven't felt in a while.
47
And this is what a trigger does, right?
48
Because at this very moment, you have an opportunity, You have an opportunity to acknowledge it as a trigger,
49
as the same thoughts and ideas of the future that you've been creating distance from for so long.
50
Or you spiral down and you sort of move backwards again as a result of that trigger.
51
You may think, oh, this trigger came to save me.
52
No, the triggers aren't there to warn you and they aren't there to save you.
53
The triggers aren't synchronicity of bad things about it happening in your life.
54
It's actually the opposite.
55
Triggers are opportunities for us to be free.
56
Triggers are opportunities for us to be more desensitized to those irrational fears and anxieties that we've had for so long.
57
When we become triggered emotionally, that's our mind sort of saying, and actually it's more our subconscious saying,
58
this is somewhere where you are not free.
59
This is somewhere where you are limited.
60
You know, if it came to it, this is what our mind is sort of communicating with us, is that you can't move through this barrier due to your own fear
61
and due to your own ideas surrounding a certain topic or a certain anxiety or a certain fear.
62
And that's what it's saying.
63
It's saying this is where you are not free.
64
So it's much easier to move through the feeling of
65
that fear than trying to work our way all the way around the circle, whether our environment or our relationships, trying to mend our world into not triggering us.
66
We have to become desensitized to triggers rather than trying to force the world to not trigger us
67
because we will become triggered.
68
Everyone has fears.
69
Everyone has certain levels and degrees of anxiety.
70
People have things that trigger unfortunate and unwanted feelings within them.
71
And you can either make the grave mistake of believing
72
that you could somehow live your life avoiding these triggers and avoiding feeling those dark emotions.
73
Or you can realize you have to create a desensitization to these fears and to these triggers.
74
And as a result of being desensitized, you will create a resilience, a mental resilience that will equal your freedom, that will equal your peace of mind,
75
your ability to be happy and joyous without feeling guilty or without falling back into those same destructive mental patterns.
76
That's what happens.
77
We grow a resilience to the triggers and we grow a desensitization to those triggers.
78
So now when those triggers come up, we see them as doorways into being even more free.
79
Another aspect and another way you can sort of look at it is you can say whatever triggers you also controls you.
80
And this I'll break down at sort of two different paradigms.
81
The first one I'll stay emotionally.
82
And that is if a certain fear, if a certain anxiety triggers you so much to the point where it makes you want to hide in your room.
83
It makes you want to turn your back against the world and not sort of face those difficult emotions.
84
If something can trigger you into that, it controls your life.
85
Because where you may have taken path one, now that that anxiety has triggered you, that fearful thought has triggered you, now you're going to end up taking path two.
86
So now the path that you chose to walk is not your choice.
87
It's the choice of whatever trigger you have encountered.
88
It's the choice of your trauma, your anxiety, your fear.
89
And this is a grave mistake we definitely can't make.
90
We cannot let fear and anxiety or trauma make any decisions for us
91
because when we allow our choices to be tainted by those things, then our life becomes pushed in a certain direction that we don't want it to go.
92
It sort of starts to encapsulate some sort of unconscious karmic system path.
93
And when I say karma, I don't mean karma in the way of we've done bad things and bad things are going to happen to us.
94
I don't mean that at all.
95
What I mean by karma is a sort of different definition.
96
I mean the sort of generational trauma and the unconscious path that happens as a result of not facing those difficult emotions.
97
You know, the sort of destiny that was put in place
98
when you were born and that destiny may only exist if you don't face those traumas, you don't face that anxiety, you don't face any of the negative and fearful thoughts.
99
That's what happens.
100
We live in unconscious sort of path
101
that the end destination is going to be something we avoided our way to instead of climbed our way to
102
or seeked our way to or created our way through.
103
The next way we can become triggered is obviously the more common version of trigger, right?
104
Someone says something and it makes you angry.
105
And I think it's very important to realize, because this is what a lot of people struggle with in terms of emotional regulation
106
and being more center and more at peace is that just
107
because someone says something or just because you see something doesn't mean it's worth an emotional investment.
108
You know, your degree of happiness and your degree of satisfaction
109
and peace in life is often a result of how much you are able to withstand emotionally investing in things
110
that don't really matter.
111
So if someone comments something mean on social media to you, you have two choices.
112
You can let it ruin your day, you can let it affect you, or you can realize this is really minor in the grand scheme of things.
113
Does this really matter?
114
Does this really mean anything to me at all?
115
And what happens is when you start to grow
116
that sort of tolerance as well to not engaging and sort of ridiculous and petty arguments or negative comments or whatever else,
117
you also grow another desensitization.
118
And that is you grow a certain tolerance and resilience to life itself.
119
What happens when people feel out of control in their lives is because they're emotionally investing in so many different things.
120
That one comment sends them down a fit of anger and rage that they can't get over for one or two days.
121
that one difficult conversation makes them unwaveringly angry and upset for a week.
122
You know, you guys understand what I'm trying to say.
123
You can't emotionally invest in everything.
124
And rather, you should emotionally invest in your peace of mind.
125
That is far more important.
126
Because truly arguing and becoming triggered by something in a reactive way, it pretty much solves nothing 97% of the time probably.
127
It solves nothing.
128
It may lead to an argument.
129
It may lead to blowing off some steam.
130
But if we really want to take control of our lives, we control the emotional energy and attention that we're putting into different things.
131
People wonder why they don't have any direction in their lives.
132
And then they're putting all of their energy, all of their emotional direction and attention into a million different things throughout their day.
133
When people create something of themselves, when people create something great in this world, it's because they harnessed that emotional energy and they focused it on a singular thing.
134
Obviously, there's other things that need your emotional investment, relationships, family dynamics, friends, whatever it may be, you know, your purpose, your job, it doesn't matter.
135
The whole point is that we're bringing awareness and a conscious mindset into our life.
136
We are choosing where to put our emotional energy.
137
And just because something triggers us and makes us upset doesn't mean now that we have to become involved in that thing.
138
There's probably countless people who scroll through social media
139
and their entire feed is filled with things that trigger them into feeling angry, sad, and upset because that's the things they keep interacting with.
140
Every time they see a social media post that makes them angry or upset, they go to the comments and they start arguing with people in the comments.
141
And I'd be willing to bet these people are also the same
142
that wonder why their life is lacking and why they don't feel a sense of direction.
143
It's because they don't know where they're placing their energy in.
144
They're spending all of their sort of energetic currency into useless little tangents that exist all over.
145
So they're placing their emotional energy in a hundred different things
146
instead of placing them in five to ten really good areas that they want to see prosper.
147
in the same way for example a social media algorithm can control you as well because
148
if a social media algorithm knows how to trigger you then
149
they know how to get you to engage with their content
150
and they know how to get you to stay on the
151
platform for longer this is the same way reality works as well you don't realize it
152
but when you're constantly looking
153
when you're constantly in a sort of state of upsetness whether it's
154
because of what's happening in the world you know we're not meant to ignore what's happening in the world
155
but we also have to be relatively reasonable in seeing
156
that our anger isn't inherently going to solve anything and
157
that we be put to better use emotionally are regulating ourselves
158
and then making certain choices whether we want to help a certain cause
159
or whatever it may be being angry
160
and being in a disruptive emotional state always looking for an argument
161
and always existing in a reactive state of being that doesn't solve anything.
162
It doesn't solve anything for anyone, and it doesn't solve anything for you either.
163
You need to learn that reality and social media in that way are very similar.
164
The stuff that you react with on social media and
165
that way that it's pushed towards you is the same way we see things in reality, not because that's inherently how reality works,
166
though it might be, but rather our unconscious is looking for these sort of patterns.
167
We're always looking for patterns we're always noticing patterns, sometimes consciously, but most of the time unconsciously.
168
So if we're unconsciously always looking for an argument, we're always looking to get into some sort of screaming match
169
because we see so many things that are wrong in the world because of social media, then we're going to go through our everyday life carrying this reactive anger that we've seen on social media,
170
and we're going to take that into our life.
171
So now our resilience and our desensitivity to triggers is very, very low.
172
So now one person can say any little thing that you don't necessarily like or agree with, and all of a sudden your day is ruined.
173
But is this any way to live?
174
Is this truly any way to live our lives?
175
To me, it doesn't really make much sense. Because any positive thing
176
that you could do in this world would greatly benefit from you being emotionally regulated and a bit more stoic.
177
the work that you do doesn't benefit from you painting anger onto it you know when an artist
178
transmutes their anger into something beautiful they also have to learn to detach from that anger
179
and if they were to have fueled
180
that anger in the form of an argument or a conversation
181
or a social media comment battle then they would have not had that same fuel to create art with
182
So it's not about negating the fact that we are triggered.
183
It's not about suppressing our anger or our emotions.
184
It's about realizing that those emotions don't need to be the leading factor from which we make our decisions in life.
185
Because if we're always acting and deciding things emotionally, then those triggers completely control us.
186
That social media algorithm completely controls us.
187
That person that knows how to get under our skin completely controls us.
188
And again, this is how you lose direction of your life again.
189
This is how you fall back into the unconscious path.
190
Because you're lacking the awareness to see that it's not worth an argument.
191
It's not worth a reaction.
192
It's not worth it.
193
When you encounter a trigger, see it as an actual trigger.
194
For example, triggering a light switch.
195
so these triggers act as launching pads to a more free
196
and a more peaceful mind
197
or they can launch pad you the other way they can launch pad you downwards
198
if you let them so if we're triggered into feeling fear
199
if we're triggered into feeling anxiety and we act as a result of
200
that trigger we act in a way that is very avoidant
201
and we act in a certain direction because of that anxiety
202
and fear we allow it to make our the choices in our life, then we're going to become launch padded down into that same unconscious path again.
203
And I know I'm mentioning the unconscious path a lot, but it's worth mentioning because it's very easy and simple to not fall into that unconscious path.
204
But the actual act of breaking through and being brave enough to sit with that discomfort is difficult.
205
But it's extremely necessary
206
because the other side of the coin is something very unrewarding and very unsatisfactory that we're going to feel in our lives.
207
So the real choice to make is to remain calm,
208
remain balanced, and acknowledge the emotion that we were triggered into feeling without letting it make our choices for us going forward.
209
And this is also a way to show to our minds
210
that we are growing and that we are evolved past this certain trigger, this certain fear, this certain anxiety.
211
In the same way of the second example I gave, it works the same way with anger.
212
It works the same way with resentment or jealousy or guilt or any negative emotion.
213
Just because you're triggered into feeling it doesn't mean you are meant to exist in
214
that state for the day or for the week or whatever else.
215
Just because it comes up doesn't mean now it's a whole thing.
216
Just because the emotion is there and just because it exists doesn't mean we have to surrender ourselves to it.
217
We can exist in a calm state of being.
218
We can notice it, we can observe it, and we can let it pass as a result of our inaction and our non-reactiveness towards it.
219
And this goes for people who trigger us or content that triggers us.
220
But most of all, this goes for our inner world where our own thoughts
221
and our own sort of anxieties and fears are triggering us.
222
They too will pass if we just let them.
223
I hope you guys enjoyed this episode.
224
If you're listening on Spotify, thank you.
225
If you're watching on YouTube.
226
Make sure to like and subscribe as always, and I will catch you guys in the next one.
227
Peace.
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
Same Channel
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
C14
361 sentences
The TRUTH about the Subconscious Mind: The Thought Process that Determines your Fate (Life changing)
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C17
43 sentences
Why We Worry All the Time and How to Cope
British AccentBusiness EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C130
64 sentences
How our expectations shape what we see, hear, and feel
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C12
172 sentences
A Tool To Help Us Allow
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C13
68 sentences
STOP caring what other people think
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C123
267 sentences
Imagine Life If You Didn’t Overthink Everything - Naval Ravikant
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C12
318 sentences
20 mins that can change your life
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B23
12 sentences
You are not your thoughts.
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C12
108 sentences
Neuroscientist's Guide To 10X Your Focus & Memory | Dr Sahar Yousef | FO559 Raj Shamani
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C19
387 sentences
4 Mindset Shifts That Will Finally Help You MASTER DETACHMENT
American AccentBusiness EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B28
108 sentences
The Psychology of Healing from Betrayal and Scams
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C14
201 sentences
10 life lessons (for a healthy mind + body) ✨
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Whatever triggers you is trying to set you free”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: trigger, fear, triggered, certain, emotion. This video has 227 sentences and 3265 words to shadow. The speech runs for 17:55. The speaker talks fast, about 182 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| emotionally adverb | /ɪˈməʊʃənəli/ | In an emotional manner; displaying emotion. |
| unconscious adjective | /ˌʌnˈkɑnʃəs/ | Not awake; having no awareness (usually as the result of a head injury). |
| resilience noun | /ɹɪˈzɪl.ɪ.əns/ | The mental ability to recover quickly from depression, illness or misfortune. |
| spiral noun | /ˈspaɪɹəl/ | A curve that is the locus of a point that rotates about a fixed point while continuously increasing its distance from that point. |
| scare verb | /skɛɚ/ | To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way. |
| desensitization noun | The act or process of desensitizing, of reducing or eliminating sensitivity. | |
| desensitize verb | /diːˈsɛnsɪtaɪz/ | To render (someone) emotionally or sensationally less responsive or irresponsive, as by long or repeated exposure to something. |
| mindfulness noun | /ˈmaɪn(d)fʊlnəs/ | Awareness. |
| reactive adjective | /ɹiːˈæktɪv/ | That reacts or responds to a stimulus. |
| irrational adjective | /ɪˈɹæʃ.(ə.)nəl/ | Not rational; unfounded, nonsensical or wrong-headed. |
| karma noun | /kərm(ə)/ | The sum total of a person's actions, which determine the person's next incarnation in samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth. |
| algorithm noun | /ˈælɡəɹɪðm̩/ | A collection of ordered steps that solve a mathematical problem. A precise step-by-step plan for a computational procedure that possibly begins with an input… |
| avoidant adjective | /əˈvɔɪdənt/ | Exhibiting avoidance; avoiding something. |
| overthink verb | To think or analyze too much. | |
| subconscious adjective | /sʌbˈkɑn.ʃəs/ | Occuring in the part of our mind that we are not normally aware of. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. |
| fall back into verb | To return to old habits; to return to an unhealthy or unhappy situation. |
| blow off verb | To vent, usually, to reduce pressure in a container. |
| break through verb | To gain popularity. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| going forward adverb | In the immediate future and beyond. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- It's saying this is where you are not free.
- The first one I'll stay emotionally.
- It's the choice of whatever trigger you have encountered.
- Does this really mean anything to me at all?
- Is this truly any way to live our lives?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | you've been working · you've been practicing · you've been creating |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | can be triggered · is pulled · being desensitized |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have not tackled · haven't felt · we've had |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | someone who doesn · people who scroll · people who trigger |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 85 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, don't, doesn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: algorithm /ˈælɡəɹɪðm̩/, withstand /wɪðˈstænd/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: emotionally /ɪˈməʊʃənəli/, unconscious /ˌʌnˈkɑnʃəs/, irrational /ɪˈɹæʃ.(ə.)nəl/, subconscious /sʌbˈkɑn.ʃəs/, unconsciously /ˌʌnˈkɑnʃəsli/
- Long words — get the stress right: emotionally /ɪˈməʊʃənəli/, resilience /ɹɪˈzɪl.ɪ.əns/, desensitize /diːˈsɛnsɪtaɪz/, irrational /ɪˈɹæʃ.(ə.)nəl/, unconsciously /ˌʌnˈkɑnʃəsli/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like emotionally, unconscious, resilience.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.