Being triggered feels pretty sucky.  We can feel the whole range of unpleasant emotions all within a millisecond after someone did or said something we did not like. 

 

We can also be triggered by situations, such as getting an unexpected bill in the mail, or from a scene in a movie that we were enjoying until that plot twist revealed something dark that we didn’t see coming.

 

Drivers on the road who are moving too fast or too slow, children who won’t cooperate, and partners who don’t clean up the kitchen, can turn us into a version of our mother or father that we promised ourselves we would never become.

 

We may respond to triggers with anger by blaming, yelling, fighting, and hurting others in the process.  

 

Our reactions, when we are triggered can lead to guilt, shame, embarrassment, and humiliation. We may want to turn back time, so that we can undo the thing we said in response to being triggered that made everything worse. 

 

Or we may respond with suppression, by stuffing our fear, rage, and disappointment inside. This does not feel good.

 

None of us like to be triggered, but it happens to us every day. Many times, in fact.

 

Help is on the way!

 

Helping people understand their triggers and knowing what to do when this inevitably happens is one of my specialties.