On a collective level, we are all carrying trauma of some kind, whether personal or ancestral. Thomas Huebl, author of the book, “Healing Collective Trauma”, writes that trauma has been passed down for so many generations now that babies are actually born into a traumatized field of energy. So there’s no escaping it. The only way out is to do the healing work.
If each of us works on our individual trauma, it will help to heal the collective. One of the most challenging parts of this is recognizing when we are triggered. Triggered doesn’t just mean that something upset you and it is not an excuse to try to control how other people behave around you. Being triggered means that your nervous system is interpreting a situation as being dangerous or threatening, when in most cases, it is not.
A common example is a car backfiring and throwing a war veteran into fight or flight mode, because it sounds like a gunshot. In reality, he is safe, but in his nervous system he feels so unsafe that he could become dangerous to those around him in his imagined need to defend himself.
There are many less extreme examples of triggers that often go unnoticed throughout our days - too many to try and list here. They are different for everyone because they are always based on your own childhood experiences. When something happens that triggers your fight, flight, freeze or fawn response, there are ways to calm your nervous system, which leads to healing over time. But first we have to learn to recognize when we are triggered.
Here are some signs that something might have triggered your trauma: You feel confused, like your brain is in a fog, or you can’t make a decision, even a simple one like what to make for dinner. Perhaps you feel anxious, jumpy or irritable for no apparent reason, or you become clumsy, dropping things or tripping. Maybe you feel suddenly so tired that you need to lie down right away, or you feel sudden pain or stomach upset or another physical symptom that has no apparent cause. At times you seem to be overreacting, or in certain situations you can’t stop talking. You crave food, alcohol, drugs or some other way of numbing out. These are just a few of the signs that you may be triggered. Fortunately, there are also quite a few things you can do to immediately soothe your nervous system, without having to resort to potentially self destructive behavior.
Splashing your face with cold water, walking in place and saying “left, right, left, right,” tapping with your knuckles or fingertips on your chest, just below your collarbone and of course, deep breaths all help in the acute moments of being triggered. Ensure that your out breath is longer than your in breath, as this calms the nervous system.
And if any of this resonates with you, please consider reaching out for support from trauma-informed professionals. Above all, be patient and gentle with yourself. Trauma can be healed.