Triggering Times
May 04, 2025We live in interesting times. Lots of change, uncertainty, and stress tend to stir our pond, bringing old issues up. When unresolved emotions come into our awareness, we feel triggered. Upset. Buttons pushed. Activated.
Then we react. Get defensive. Some withdraw and go quiet, others flare up into a ‘dummy spit.’ Sometimes we get sad, sometimes mad. We flail around like a cut snake, trying desperately to avoid the pain which has emerged.
It always feels unpleasant, because unfinished business is always the challenging stuff. Trauma is stuck energy, old experiences which were too difficult to process at the time. Maybe we were overwhelmed. Maybe, especially as a child, there was nobody there to help us deal with it.
Whatever sits inside, stuck in our body-mind, will cause us issues: secondary emotions such as anxiety, depression and OCD; problematic coping mechanisms, including addictive behaviours; somatic expressions through physical health difficulties. The indirect signs of underlying stress are guiding us to do the work.
Triggering is the psyche’s way of bringing such stress to our attention. Our inner wisdom knows how to heal on all levels, and will hijack the conscious awareness in an attempt to be heard.
When we understand the process is purposeful, we can learn to work with it. Recognise at the time that we are in a triggered regression. See our messy state as part of a healing opportunity.
In the next article, we will look at some powerful ways to manage our triggered state, so it doesn’t get destructive.
