In my last post I explored what some triggers are.  The second part to this is about knowing when you are triggered.  If you are crying like the little girl in the picture then the trigger is obvious.  At other times, it isn’t so obvious, so I thought I would list some ways to know you are triggered below:

• Feeling of not being “there”
• Sensations of feeling suddenly, overwhelmed
• Unable to shift any emotion
• Anxiety or fear sensations
• Pit in stomach
• Shallow breathing, holding your breath, hyperventilating
• Obsessive thoughts that don’t shift
• Going from 0 to 60 in a millisecond
• Doing something you don’t normally do, or don’t want to do
• Hypertension
• Twitches – face, eyes, bodily movements
• Jumping to conclusions
• Jumping to worse case scenarios
• The sky is falling mentality
• Sense of not belonging
• Feeling like an outsider looking in or down on
• Fear of abandonment & aloneness
• Feeling small

There are so many others, this list is just to get the conversation started. This is also an invitation to be curious about what you may do when  you are triggered? It may be hard to even know, or this may be an entirely new concept to you.  There are no right or wrong answers, nothing you can do wrong with this exploration.  Being are of your responses to triggers is something that will help you moving forward. So perhaps just try to be aware, be curious and take notes – for yourself, to see if you recognize any patterns or similarities.

Triggers and responding to them is normal, so please do not judge yourself. How we respond to triggers for the most part are automatic and in response to a perceived danger, so all you are doing is protecting yourself.  The piece to be curious about is if the danger is still present in the here and now…. and if we can look at repurposing some of these responses to serve and support you.  This too is a step…. whenever you are ready…