Map the trigger. Build the exit. Execute before the window closes.
The steps
- Define precisely not "be less anxious" but "use the Now Protocol when I feel my chest tighten before a difficult conversation."
- Identify the exact cue the specific sensory or situational signal that initiates the new response.
- Practise with full attention at the earliest cue before the old pattern builds momentum.
- Close the Loop every time the reward signal that marks the pathway as worth reinforcing.
- Practise daily. Assess at three weeks. If still effortful, continue toward six weeks and beyond.
- Sleep consistently this is when structural neural change consolidates.
Where it comes from
- Session 11 — the full handout
- Session 11 — Trigger Maps
Prefer it one step at a time? The same protocol as a guided runner in the app, which also keeps a private record if you want one.
This is one of the tools a seventeen-session series teaches, ninety minutes at a time, in a room of six to twelve people. It is peer-facilitated and free to host.
Check what stayed 3 questions
Answer in your own words, out loud or on paper. Nothing is scored, nothing is marked, and nothing is stored — this is for noticing what you have, not for anybody to grade.
How much are you changing at once, and over what period?
What the material says
Changing one specific automatic response, over weeks.
One step is not about practice at all. What is it, and what happens during it?
What the material says
this is when structural neural change consolidates.
How often do you close the loop while rewiring, and what does the signal mark?
What the material says
the reward signal that marks the pathway as worth reinforcing.