If you want to know how to heal emotional triggers, you’re in the right place. We’ll work on it together, from a higher spiritual perspective so you can feel better quickly.

Healing isn’t linear, but it’s easier to navigate when you have options and see what’s possible. I have been healing for ten years, and I can tell you that there isn’t only one way to heal.

You’ll learn how to react when someone triggers you, including a list of common emotional triggers and so much more.

Try techniques that speak to you and see which ones are producing results.

This post is all about how to heal emotional triggers.

How to react when someone triggers you

If you have past trauma, it is more challenging to be present amid a trigger. When you live in the present moment you don’t react the same way you would have in the past even when you’re triggered. 

The nature of a traumatic event is that it impacts your nervous system. You may spin into one of the nervous system responses. These are fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.

The best thing you can do during an intense emotional reaction is remove yourself from the situation. If you sense intense emotions like anger, or sadness coming up, take a step back from the situation. 

The goal is to separate yourself from the trigger and tend to your nervous system first. Once you feel more neutral, you can determine how to move forward.

When you understand why you’re triggered, they won’t drive how you respond.

List of emotional triggers

Emotional triggers in relationships are some of the greatest catalysts for growth. When you know how you’re feeling, you can use this information to gauge what to heal within you.

Here is a list of common emotional triggers. You can use these to evaluate your own potential triggers:

Being in control

One of the best ways to release control is to practice surrender. Surrender is emotional, not physical. It’s recognizing what you can control and choosing to surrender what you can’t.

Negative emotions create the need to maintain control. The first step is self-awareness. Get to the root cause of how you feel and what is causing you to hold on. This is a great way to start identifying your control trigger.

Boundary Concerns

Boundaries are critical in any relationship. They keep you and other people safe. Without them, there are unspoken expectations that could cause miscommunications.

To set boundaries you first have to know what is acceptable to you, and what isn’t. Once you’re clear on your needs, it’s easier to communicate your boundaries to others.

Rejection

Two common phrases in spiritual circles are, “Rejection is God’s protection” or “Rejection is redirection.” I like these because they feel good, but they don’t accurately represent rejection.

When you experience a feeling of rejection, it’s showing you what you’ve rejected within yourself. 

Rather than taking it personally, ask yourself, “What is this rejection showing me?” It’s not about blame, it’s about seeing yourself as empowered, instead of victimized.

Feeling disrespected or criticized

You can take disrespect or criticism in two ways. You can look at it as someone projecting their story onto you and you can blame them for it. In this energy it doesn’t matter how you look at it, you will always feel like you’re on the negative end of the stick.

Or, you can see it as a mirror. What if the disrespect or criticism is showing up to teach you something? Once again, you’ll ask yourself, “What is this disrespect or criticism showing me?”

Fear

The good news is that when you face your fears, they start to lose their strength. The thing about fear is that it only has the power you give it.

The first step is to know what it is you’re afraid of. Even if you’re not sure of the root cause, you can start with what you know to be true. Then work from there and go deeper. Don’t forget to seek some professional help with this if you need it.

Feeling taken advantage of

Feeling taken advantage of is never any fun. When you have a healthy relationship with yourself, you’ll have one with others.

Once you love and appreciate yourself, you set the standard of expectation. Then it’s easier to say no to anything that doesn’t meet that standard.

Anxiety 

When you experience something like an event in your past, anxiety can come up. One of the easiest ways to shift anxiety is through deep breathing exercises.

I recommend learning the “box method breathing technique” and practicing it when you feel good. This way, you’ll be ready when anxiety pops up.

Feeling vulnerable

Feeling vulnerable isn’t uncommon when you’ve been through a traumatic experience. If you focus on creating a supportive environment for yourself, you can establish a feeling of safety. When your vulnerability is appreciated instead of rejected, you’ll begin to thrive.

This may include support groups, hiring a coach or healer, or the help of a therapist. Finding someone you can trust and learning healthy coping skills is a great first step.

Vulnerability is strength, not weakness.

Relationship Experiences

Have you had a romantic relationship in the past that involved manipulation, lying, or gaslighting? That will definitely affect your nervous system. These create self-doubt and negative thoughts. 

If you struggle trusting others, process past relationships when healing. Including those with family members.

Sadness and Anger

Both sadness and anger elicit strong emotional responses. These surface-level emotions are powerful, but they are hiding deeper feelings.

Sadness and anger usually hide deep pain and grief. You may be more comfortable expressing anger than sadness. If you sit with anger long enough, you’ll find that the sadness bubbles to the surface.

Being excluded or ignored

If you were unqiue, different or acted outside of what others expected of you as a child, you may be struggling with the black sheep syndrome. 

This is when you’re excluded or ignored for being different. The people perpetuating this behavior don’t even know they’re doing it most of the time.

I like to flip the script on this one. You’re actually the white sheep because you’re living in accord with your authenticity. You are shining your light.

The people who aren’t, are living in the shadow and casting their shadows onto you.

Keep doing what you’re doing. You’re on the right track.

Feeling invisible

When you’re feeling invisible, the best thing you can do is go out of your way to see yourself.

Acknowledge your achievements, accomplishments, and little victories. Take stock of what you’ve transformed into throughout your life. Take yourself out to celebrate. Share your wins. 

Feeling smothered

Feeling smothered comes along with feeling restricted. The thing you’ll see with this one is, “I want to be free!” Freedom is emotional and it’s mental.

When you’re feeling emotionally confined, or mentally caged, you’ll believe that you aren’t free. You’ll believe people are out to get you or harm you in some way.

I promise you, this is going to hold you back in life. You are already free, and you need to work on anything that makes you feel like you aren’t.

Guilt

If you felt guilty when you didn’t do what someone else wanted you to do, guilt may have been a contributing factor.

Even well meaning people often use guilt to manipulate others to get what they want. This can cause you to doubt your choices. You’ll look to the past often, wondering if you could’ve done something differently.

Loss

When someone uses loss against you, it will be an emotional trigger. This can happen when someone takes something from you, or someone leaves you when you don’t do what they want.

This creates a stress response where you’ll fear losing people, belongings, and even yourself if you don’t do what other people want.

With loss, it’s easy to see where you may be more controlling for fear of losing something or someone you love.

Unjust treatment

You may wonder why you or wonder what you did wrong. This is rarely the case when it comes to emotional triggers.

It’s impossible to know what someone else’s intentions were with you. You’re someone different in everyone else’s story. It’s important to remember that so you don’t take things to heart.

Shift your focus from what happened to you, to what is acceptable and adjust your boundaries.

Negativity

Negative beliefs are one cause of negativity, but they aren’t the only cause. You may get triggered listening to people complain, or by people who talk but don’t act.

If negativity is an emotional trigger for you, pull this inside and see why. What is it about the negativity outside of you that is bothering you? Asking yourself that question will help you get to the root cause.

Traumatic Experience

Traumatic experiences can create dissonance between you and the world around you. 

Process traumatic experiences when the time is right. Only you’ll know the right timing. Process how you feel about it and let your emotions have a voice.

Loud Noises

I’ve seen sensitive souls and empathic people struggle with loud noises. I’ve seen it stem from past lives, as well as childhood experiences. Doors slamming and yelling, especially when angry can trigger emotional reactions.

If you’re struggling with this, work on creating a peaceful environment for yourself. Focus on your peace above all else. Your nervous system and mental health matter most.

Physical pain

Anyone who has been in physical pain knows that it can trigger a slew of emotions. If you struggle with physical pain, rank your physical body healing above all else.

To the best of your ability, drop any obligations that don’t support healing your physical pain. Once your body feels better, you’ll be able to cope with other aspects of life.

Childhood Trauma

The effects of trauma can be long-lasting. Childhood trauma doesn’t always get resolved in childhood. It usually comes up in adulthood when we’re better able to deal with it.

If you have a history of trauma, get support sooner rather than later. Trauma can be deeply rooted, and take time to heal so the earlier you begin, the earlier you’ll begin to feel better.

How to stop getting triggered easily

If you want to stop getting triggered, take these steps:

1. Pay attention to what triggers you. Work on being present near people or situations that have triggered you in the past. Observe what it is about them that triggers you. 
2. Take this information and sit with it. Silence is the best way to resolve a trigger. If you sit with something long enough, and give yourself time and space to understand it, you’ll get to the root cause.
3. Notice any physical signs like an increased heart rate, or anxiety.
4. Work with someone who may be able to help you process what’s coming up for you. An outside perspective is always helpful.

How to heal emotional triggers

Healing an emotional trigger is about taking care of yourself while working to understand the trigger. This is the start of the healing process.

There’s no easy fix. With time, patience, and compassion you can feel better about yourself and your past experiences. 

Next time a trigger comes up, you’ll have the awareness of your own triggers, and can make a positive change in how you react.

I teach women how to strengthen and use their intuition to navigate life and business. To learn how to use your intuition as a powerful tool, download my gift.

In the free Energetic Empowerment Guide, you’ll learn how to harness your intuition. Plus, I’ll show you how to expand your energy to receive more in life, and business.

This post was all about how to heal emotional triggers.