Triggered and True

Latest Episodes:

(Ep. 71) Why You Can’t Truly Love God if You Hate Yourself May 15, 2026

Show notes

What if the healing that's transforming your heart is more biblical than you've been led to believe?

In this episode of Triggered & True, Laura Duncan and co-host Brian Friese continue their conversation about common objections to the Compassion Method by addressing one of the biggest questions they hear from Christians: Is this process actually biblical?

Laura shares her own faith journey and explains how her relationship with God shaped the development of the Compassion Method from the very beginning.

Together, she and Brian explore why emotional healing and Christian faith never compete with one another—they have always been connected.

Looking at Scripture through the lens of relationship rather than performance, they unpack how compassion, emotional awareness, and healing have been woven into God's heart all along.

Rather than asking listeners to take their word for it, Laura points back to the life of Jesus, the Garden of Eden, and the consistent biblical pattern of God moving toward people in their pain before inviting them into transformation.

It's a conversation for anyone who's wondered whether emotional healing can truly deepen—not diminish—their walk with God.

In this episode:

🔹 Laura shares how her own relationship with God led to the development of the Compassion Method

🔹 Why the Compassion Method is rooted in biblical principles of relationship, compassion, and restoration rather than self-improvement

🔹 What Scripture reveals about God's response to shame, pain, and emotional brokenness—from the Garden of Eden to the life of Jesus

🔹 The difference between healing through relationships and striving through performance or religious obligation

🔹 How emotional awareness and self-compassion can strengthen your Christian faith by helping you experience God's love more personally

📩 Get your free Weekly Dose of Compassion — two short notes in your inbox every week. One to speak over yourself. One from Laura: https://www.lauraduncan.com/pl/2148814868

🔗 Learn more:

https://triggeredandtrue.com

https://lauraduncan.com

Get your copy of Above All Else: Winning the War for Your Heart by clicking here.

(Ep. 70) These 4 Beliefs Stop Emotional Healing (Objections to The Compassion Method) Apr 17, 2026

Show notes

What if the emotions you've spent your whole life trying to avoid are actually trying to help you heal?

In this episode of Triggered & True, Laura Duncan and co-host Brian Friese tackle one of the most common objections to the Compassion Method: "Shouldn't I ignore my feelings instead of paying attention to them?"

Together, they unpack why so many of us fear our emotions, where that fear comes from, and why learning to feel your pain is essential to emotional healing—not a threat to it.

Laura explains that most of us didn't learn to distrust our emotions as adults—we learned it as children. When our feelings were ignored, shamed, or met with disconnection, we naturally came to believe that emotions were dangerous.

But emotions themselves aren't the problem. They're faithful messengers, revealing what's happening in our hearts and pointing us toward the places that still need compassion and comfort.

Rather than letting emotions "drive the car," Laura offers a healthier picture: your true self stays in the driver's seat while your emotions are finally welcomed into the conversation.

Healing begins when we stop fighting what we feel and start understanding why we feel it.

In this episode:

🔹 Why so many people believe feeling their emotions is dangerous—and where that belief usually begins

🔹 The difference between letting emotions guide your decisions and allowing them to reveal what your heart needs

🔹 How childhood experiences of shame and disconnection teach us to suppress our feelings instead of processing them

🔹 Why emotions are reliable indicators of what's happening inside you—even when they aren't telling you what to do

🔹 How the Compassion Method helps you feel your pain, receive comfort, and respond from your true self instead of your triggered self

📩 Get your free Weekly Dose of Compassion — two short notes in your inbox every week. One to speak over yourself. One from Laura: https://www.lauraduncan.com/pl/2148814868

🔗 Learn more:

https://triggeredandtrue.com

https://lauraduncan.com

Get your copy of Above All Else: Winning the War for Your Heart by clicking here.

(Ep. 69) Why Your Pain Is a Terrible Fuel Source (And What to Use Instead) Mar 20, 2026

Show notes

What if the questions you keep asking are actually pointing you toward the healing you've been looking for?

In this special Q&A episode of Triggered & True, Laura Duncan and co-host Brian Friese answer listener questions about emotional healing, the Compassion Method, trauma, learning, and what it really looks like to grow when life feels overwhelming.

From navigating new challenges and emotional triggers to understanding how the brain learns, Laura offers practical, compassionate guidance for questions many listeners wrestle with every day.

Along the way, the conversation reminds us that healing isn't about getting everything right the first time—it's about becoming curious, staying present with yourself, and allowing each challenge to become an opportunity for growth.

Whether you're wondering why certain situations keep triggering you, how to apply the Compassion Method in real life, or simply need encouragement to keep going, this episode offers honest answers and hope-filled perspectives rooted in both neuroscience and compassion.

In this episode:

🔹 Why learning something new often feels emotionally triggering—and what your brain is doing in those moments

🔹 Listener questions about trauma, emotional healing, and applying the Compassion Method in everyday life

🔹 The difference between reacting from old survival patterns and responding from your true self

🔹 Why curiosity and self-compassion create lasting growth far better than self-criticism or perfectionism

🔹 Practical encouragement for anyone who feels stuck, discouraged, or unsure whether healing is really happening

📩 Get your free Weekly Dose of Compassion — two short notes in your inbox every week. One to speak over yourself. One from Laura: https://www.lauraduncan.com/pl/2148814868

🔗 Learn more:

https://triggeredandtrue.com

https://lauraduncan.com

Get your copy of Above All Else: Winning the War for Your Heart by clicking here.

(Ep. 68) A Roadmap to True Freedom – Science, Stillness, and the Compassion Method Feb 20, 2026

Show notes

What if the freedom you're searching for isn't found by doing more, but by learning how to be still?

In this episode of Triggered & True, Laura Duncan and co-host Brian Friese explore what they call a roadmap to true freedom, weaving together neuroscience, emotional healing, the Compassion Method, and faith to show why lasting transformation begins with slowing down instead of striving harder.

Laura explains that our brains are wired to stay busy, solve problems, and react automatically, making stillness feel uncomfortable, even threatening.

But it's in those quiet moments that we notice what's actually happening inside us. Rather than rushing to fix our emotions, we can learn to observe them with compassion, reconnect with our true self, and discover the freedom that has been there all along.

The conversation offers both the science behind why stillness changes the brain and practical ways to incorporate it into everyday life.

Whether you're constantly busy, struggling with emotional triggers, or longing to hear God's voice more clearly, this episode offers a simple but powerful invitation: stop striving, become present, and let healing unfold.

In this episode:

🔹 Why the brain naturally resists stillness—and how that keeps us trapped in old emotional patterns

🔹 The connection between neuroscience, emotional healing, and the Compassion Method

🔹 Why awareness begins with slowing down instead of trying to fix yourself

🔹 How stillness creates space to hear your emotions, reconnect with your true self, and experience God's presence more deeply

🔹 A practical daily exercise to help you become more aware of your body, your emotions, and the identity that's underneath them all

📩 Get your free Weekly Dose of Compassion — two short notes in your inbox every week. One to speak over yourself. One from Laura: https://www.lauraduncan.com/pl/2148814868

🔗 Learn more:

https://triggeredandtrue.com

https://lauraduncan.com

Get your copy of Above All Else: Winning the War for Your Heart by clicking here.

(Ep. 67) Confidently being You: Turning Triggers into Tools for Growth and Freedom Jan 16, 2026

Show notes

What if the emotional trigger you're trying to avoid is actually the doorway to your healing?

In this episode of Triggered & True, Laura Duncan and co-host Brian Friese challenge one of the biggest misconceptions about emotional triggers: that they're something to fear or eliminate.

Instead, they explain why triggers can become one of the greatest gifts in your emotional healing journey when you learn how to work with them instead of against them.

Using the powerful picture of riding a wave rather than being crushed by it, Laura shows how emotional triggers stop feeling like they're happening to you when you approach them with curiosity and compassion.

What once felt overwhelming becomes an opportunity to uncover the pain beneath the reaction, comfort the part of you that's hurting, and discover the true self that has been there all along.

If you've ever wished your triggers would simply disappear, this conversation offers a hopeful reframe: healing isn't about avoiding the waves—it's about learning how to ride them.

In this episode:

🔹 Why emotional triggers are opportunities for healing rather than obstacles to overcome

🔹 The "wave" analogy that changes how you experience overwhelming emotions and emotional reactions

🔹 How the Compassion Method transforms triggers from something happening to you into something you can work with

🔹 Why curiosity and self-compassion create lasting emotional healing where self-protection and avoidance cannot

🔹 How every trigger holds an invitation to feel your pain, receive comfort, and reconnect with your true self

📩 Get your free Weekly Dose of Compassion — two short notes in your inbox every week. One to speak over yourself. One from Laura: https://www.lauraduncan.com/pl/2148814868

🔗 Learn more:

https://triggeredandtrue.com

https://lauraduncan.com

Get your copy of Above All Else: Winning the War for Your Heart by clicking here.

(Ep. 66) Navigating the Emotional Minefield of the Holidays Dec 22, 2025

Show notes

What if the holidays don't have to be something you survive—but something you actually experience?

In this special holiday episode of Triggered & True, Laura Duncan and co-host Brian Friese explore why Christmas and family gatherings can stir up so many emotional triggers—and how you can approach them with greater peace, awareness, and self-compassion.

Rather than offering another list of holiday coping strategies, Laura explains how the Compassion Method helps you prepare from the inside out.

Whether your triggers come from difficult family members, unmet expectations, loneliness, grief, finances, or childhood memories, the goal isn't simply to manage your reactions—it's to understand the wounds underneath them so your true self can remain present.

The conversation is filled with practical ways to prepare before the holidays begin, from revisiting childhood Christmas memories to using the Remote Control Exercise and practicing brief moments of attunement throughout the day.

The result isn't a "perfect" holiday—it's becoming more connected to yourself so you can be more genuinely connected to the people around you.

In this episode:

🔹 Why holiday stress is usually about much more than the holidays themselves—and what your emotional triggers are really pointing toward

🔹 How childhood Christmas experiences continue to shape your expectations, reactions, and relationships as an adult

🔹 Practical ways to prepare emotionally before family gatherings using the Compassion Method and the Remote Control Exercise

🔹 Why trying to avoid difficult people rarely brings lasting peace—and how caring for your own heart changes the experience instead

🔹 How to move through Christmas with greater presence, self-compassion, and connection so you're not just getting through the holidays, but actually living them

📩 Get your free Weekly Dose of Compassion — two short notes in your inbox every week. One to speak over yourself. One from Laura: https://www.lauraduncan.com/pl/2148814868

🔗 Learn more:

https://triggeredandtrue.com

https://lauraduncan.com

Get your copy of Above All Else: Winning the War for Your Heart by clicking here.

(Ep. 65) Rebuilding Trust from the Inside Out Nov 21, 2025

Show notes

What if the person you trust the least... is yourself?

In this episode of Triggered & True, Laura Duncan and co-host Brian Friese unpack one of the deepest roots beneath anxiety, relationship struggles, and emotional triggers: self-trust.

They explore why betrayal by others often awakens something much older—and why healing begins by restoring trust in yourself before trying to rebuild trust with anyone else.

Laura explains that many of us learned early in life not to trust our own hearts. Whether we grew up without supportive caregivers, or we were forced to mature too quickly, or painful experiences taught us to doubt ourselves, those early wounds shape how we experience broken trust today.

The conversation offers a powerful reframe: the goal isn't to pretend betrayal doesn't hurt. It's to comfort the places within you that were wounded so you can respond from your true self instead of your triggered self. From that place, wisdom, healthy boundaries, and genuine trust become possible again.

In this episode:

🔹 Why broken trust with others often reveals a much deeper lack of trust in yourself

🔹 How childhood experiences and early caregivers shape your ability to decide with confidence

🔹 The difference between "capital T" Trust—the deep need to feel safe—and the everyday trust required in healthy relationships

🔹 Why healing doesn't mean ignoring betrayal, but comforting the wounds it awakens so you can respond from your true self

🔹 How restoring self-trust frees you to set healthy boundaries, navigate relationships with wisdom, and be okay regardless of another person's choices

📩 Get your free Weekly Dose of Compassion — two short notes in your inbox every week. One to speak over yourself. One from Laura: https://www.lauraduncan.com/pl/2148814868

🔗 Learn more:

https://triggeredandtrue.com

https://lauraduncan.com

Get your copy of Above All Else: Winning the War for Your Heart by clicking here.

Get To Know Triggered & True - A Compassion Method™ Podcast Oct 27, 2025

Show notes

What if the healing you've been looking for doesn't start with fixing yourself—but with finally understanding yourself?

If you're new to Triggered & True, this is the perfect place to begin. In this special introduction episode, Laura Duncan and co-host Brian Friese share what the podcast is all about, why emotional healing matters, and how the Compassion Method helps people move through emotional triggers, shame, anxiety, and pain without becoming trapped by them.

Laura and Brian introduce the heart behind the show: healing isn't about becoming someone new—it's about returning to the true self you've always been.

They explain why emotions aren't problems to solve but invitations to discover what's happening beneath the surface, and how compassion creates lasting transformation where self-improvement alone cannot.

They also walk you through where to start in the podcast, highlight a few foundational episodes, and introduce practical resources designed to help you apply what you learn right away.

In this episode:

🔹 What "Triggered & True" means—and why emotional triggers can become invitations to healing rather than something to fear

🔹 The heart of the Compassion Method and how self-compassion helps uncover your true self instead of simply managing symptoms

🔹 Why emotional healing isn't about fixing yourself, but learning to understand and comfort the parts of you carrying pain

🔹 The best episodes for new listeners and how to begin your own healing journey through the podcast

🔹 Two practical exercises that help you move from simply learning about healing to actually experiencing it in everyday life

📩 Get your free Weekly Dose of Compassion — two short notes in your inbox every week. One to speak over yourself. One from Laura: https://www.lauraduncan.com/pl/2148814868

🔗 Learn more:

https://triggeredandtrue.com

https://lauraduncan.com

(Ep. 64) Uncovering Shame: Reclaiming Your True Self (Part 2) Oct 17, 2025

Show notes

What if the shame you've spent your whole life outrunning traces back to something as simple as being a sensitive kid who felt too small?

In this episode of Triggered & True, Laura Duncan and co-host Brian Freise follow up on their last conversation ("Uncovering Shame, Reclaiming Your True Self") by getting deeply personal — Brian opens up the actual roots of his own shame, and lets it be walked through in real time.

It's a vulnerable, illustrative companion to the previous episode's teaching, showing what tracing shame back to early childhood actually looks like.

Brian shares that the thing that eventually "blew up" in his life traced back to something surprisingly simple: two childhood sources of shame, both tied to not feeling like "a man."

He was a sensitive boy who felt deeply and cried easily in a stoic family that didn't have a grid for it — so he came to believe he was a "crybaby" — and he was very small (4'10" and about 90 pounds as a high school freshman), which the world constantly pointed out.

Laura connects it back to the Garden: just as Adam and Eve covered themselves, Brian spent years covering the "crater" of not feeling enough with protectors — the need to be cool, relentless work, performance, and eventually even his Christian faith turned into a work to cover himself.

The hope is in the tracing: naming where shame comes from, and comforting that child rather than compensating for him, is where the healing finally begins.

In this episode:

🔹 Brian's authentic story: two childhood roots of shame, both tied to not feeling like "a man"

🔹 The sensitive boy in a stoic family — how "crybaby" became a shame identity

🔹 Being small in a world that wouldn't stop pointing it out — shame over something you can't change

🔹 The Garden connection: how protectors (coolness, work, performance) become the "leaves" we cover ourselves with

🔹 When even faith becomes a "work" to cover shame — and where real healing starts instead

📩 Get your free Weekly Dose of Compassion — two short notes in your inbox every week. One to speak over yourself. One from Laura: https://www.lauraduncan.com/pl/2148814868

🔗 Learn more:

https://triggeredandtrue.com

https://lauraduncan.com

Get your copy of Above All Else: Winning the War for Your Heart by clicking here.

(Ep. 63) Uncovering Shame: Reclaiming Your True Self Sep 19, 2025

Show notes

What if there's a quiet virus running underneath everything — one that keeps the emotional healing from taking hold, and you don't even know it's there?

In this episode of Triggered & True, Laura Duncan and co-host Brian Freise go deep on the one thing that may block your healing more than anything else: shame.

Brian compares it to a virus running low-grade on your operating system — slowing everything down, disrupting even your ability to absorb the Compassion Method — while you keep wondering why things aren't working the way they should.

Laura calls it what she's called it from the beginning: the root of all anxiety and depression.

Tracing shame back to its origins in the Garden of Eden, Laura and Brian draw a striking distinction: God can free us from sin, but shame is something we do to ourselves — no army drove Adam and Eve into the bushes; they hid on their own.

From there they explore one of the method's most challenging ideas — that the knowledge of good is as detrimental as the knowledge of evil, because trying to "do better" to escape shame just traps us on the same wheel.

Brian shares how he spent years reading the Bible in shame, as a checklist of good and bad to fix himself, and missed its heart entirely: that God asks things of us out of love and protection, not to earn His approval.

The freeing conclusion: you can't fix shame by doing better — the only thing that heals it is compassion.

In this episode:

🔹 Shame as a "virus" running underneath your healing — and why it's the root of anxiety and depression

🔹 Shame's origin in the Garden: why we hide ourselves, and why God frees us from sin but not shame

🔹 Why the knowledge of good is as detrimental as evil — and how "doing better" keeps you stuck

🔹 Reading the Bible in shame vs. in love — a checklist to fix yourself, or a Father protecting you

🔹 Why you can't fix shame by doing better — and why only compassion actually heals it

📩 Get your free Weekly Dose of Compassion — two short notes in your inbox every week. One to speak over yourself. One from Laura: https://www.lauraduncan.com/pl/2148814868

🔗 Learn more:

https://triggeredandtrue.com

https://lauraduncan.com

Get your copy of Above All Else: Winning the War for Your Heart by clicking here.

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