According to the dictionary, a trigger is “a mechanism that sets a process in motion”.
What are triggers?
When we think of the word trigger, we often think of violent events and traumas. An example would be that someone has been sent to a war zone, comes back home, and is triggered by fireworks on New Year’s Eve. The sound of the loud bangs sets a process in motion: It makes the brain go instantly back to the violent events and replays those memories. Then the body reacts. Trembling hands, a haze in front of the eyes, and anxious or angry feelings. Sometimes even a dissociation from reality for a certain amount of time.
Why do we have triggers?
Triggers come as a kind of warning that you are in an unsafe situation. Your subconscious gives a signal. Red light, get out now! The moment you find yourself in a certain situation that is similar to something that happened in the past, your subconscious plays this old event again in a split second. It does that to show how unsafe this situation is and that you have to make sure you get away. Since your subconscious is in control of your safety (and not your happiness!) this is its way of keeping you safe.
When are triggers created?
A trigger arises when you have come into a situation with a large emotional impact that is seen as highly unsafe to your subconscious mind. This could be anything. Traumas, abuse, and loss, for example. But also bullying, not being seen or heard, a nasty comment from someone you looked up to, being laughed at, and so on. With every intense experience where your subconscious has thought ’this must never happen again’ a trigger has been created.
The subconscious doesn’t process
The moment after an emotional event, your head immediately starts working on this. Your conscious mind will analyze, process, and ultimately put things into perspective. This is very nice, but this does not automatically seep through to your subconscious mind. The message that things are okay does not arrive in your subconscious. And this is incredibly important to know!
Because at a certain moment your head puts things in an adult perspective, but none of that automatically happens to your subconscious. Your subconscious doesn’t just let go of anything. In fact, he sticks to these things, because that is his job. Its function is to keep you safe. So it will store all these hectic events and warn (trigger) you when you are in danger of ending up in a similar situation again.
It is important to know that a lot of our triggers stem from childhood. In fact, most of our triggers are created there, because we did not yet have a sense of how the world works. We could often not understand the events and reactions around us very well, but we could feel them all. Your subconscious recorded everything, including everything that happened in your childhood.
As a result, it can happen that you are triggered without knowing where it comes from. We often call these fears. Or if it’s very a specific fear, a phobia.
Releasing triggers
You can try whatever you want, but this mechanism is so much stronger than your willpower, you don’t just change these triggers with logic or reasoning. Because those are functions of your conscious mind and that just don’t reach your subconscious mind. You need other ways to do this. You need to reach your subconscious mind and process the emotional charge there.
PSYCH-K® is excellent for this. Without having to completely relive it again, you can get rid of your triggers once and for all. I am happy to help you with this.
