When something gets triggered, I often rest with it first, and feel the sensations. I may also notice some images and words.
Then, if I want to go deeper, I inquire into it. Using the living inquiries, I look for a threat, a deficient/inflated self, a compulsion, or anything else that seems to be there and seems to be the problem.
Resting with it can, in itself, be very helpful. It helps shift from thinking to noticing thoughts, and – if I rest with sensations – from thoughts to sensations. And it’s only helpful up to a point. It often still leaves the underlying velcro (beliefs, identifications) untouched. It’s a stepping stone to inquiry, and an essential companion to – and support for – inquiry.
Just as inquiry is a support for natural rest. Inquiry may mean less velcro, which in turn leads to easier natural rest, since attention has a tendency to be drawn to activated velcro.
As a side note: Why is attention drawn to velcro? Because it seems important. It seems related to who and what we are. It may even, when it’s strong, seem like and issue of life and death. (Because of the identification.) No wonder attention is drawn to activated velcro. It’s also a gift, since it shows us what’s left to look into.
Velcro here means that sensations seem “stuck” on words and images, lending them a sense of solidity and reality, and giving them a charge. It’s also identification – with a story or viewpoint. It can be called a belief. Or even, as some use the word, “ego”.