I process by realizing the parallels in people I meet and memories.
I try to understand how I'm feeling by remembering when I've felt that way before.
I try to understand a friendship by thinking of a similar person I'm friends with.
Memories flood my mind when someone makes me laugh a certain way. Or get irritated. Or self-conscious. I ask myself, "when have I felt that way before?" Then I see the connections and similarities.
That's how I've healed from trauma and understood my triggers.
I look at those parallels to try and understand myself, that person, and what to do next.