Welcome to 3-2-1 Tuesdays with Better Wellness Naturally-Understanding Triggers and the Amygdala Hijack
- Admin
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
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Quick bits of therapeutic info and learning, ideas, concepts, and quotes.
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3: Keys
2: Concepts
1: Quick Article
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” — Carl Jung
3 Keys
Triggers are emotional echoes.
Sometimes the emotions you feel right now aren’t entirely about this moment—they’re ripples from something in the past. You might be going about your day and suddenly feel a rush of anger, sadness, or anxiety and wonder, “Where did that come from?” These reactions can be sparked by the smallest things… a tone of voice, a certain smell, even the way light falls in a room. It’s not about being “too sensitive”, it’s your body remembering something important, even if your mind isn’t aware of it.
They’re not always about “now.”
When you notice yourself reacting more strongly than the situation seems to call for, it’s worth pausing to ask, “What does this moment remind me of..?” Often, triggers are less about what’s happening right now and more about the emotional patterns your body and mind have learned over time. This awareness can be powerful because it helps you separate the present from the past. It’s not about dismissing your feelings—it’s about understanding them in a deeper way.
Awareness opens the door to choice.
The moment you recognize, “Oh, I’m feeling triggered,” you’ve already shifted from pure reaction to mindful awareness. That small pause creates space between what you feel and how you respond. In that space, you get to decide: Do I want to lean in and explore this? (Yes!) Do I need to step back and ground myself? (More than likely.) Awareness doesn’t erase the trigger, but it gives you back some power in the moment—and that’s where healing starts and taking back your personal power begins.
A Couple of Concepts
Implicit Memory
You probably know about memories you can recall easily—birthdays, names, events. Those are explicit memories. But there’s another kind, called implicit memory, which doesn’t live in words or conscious recall… it lives in sensations and emotions. It’s why your heart might race when you hear a certain sound, or why a particular scent makes you uneasy without knowing why. Your nervous system is holding onto information your mind doesn’t consciously access. Understanding this can be comforting, because it means your reactions aren’t random—they’re connected to something real, even if you can’t see it clearly yet.
Amygdala HijackThe “amygdala hijack” is what happens when your brain’s emotional alarm system takes over before your logical thinking has a chance to weigh in. It’s the sudden rush of defensiveness in an argument or the flood of panic when you get unexpected bad news.
Important Note: Your amygdala is wired to protect you, so it reacts in milliseconds to anything that feels like danger—whether that danger is physical or emotional. The problem is, it can’t always tell the difference between an actual threat and a reminder of something that once hurt you. Knowing this term can help you name what’s happening in the moment and give yourself compassion instead of judgment.
A Quick Overview:
Emotional triggers —flashpoints, sparks, stressors, cues—are like hidden tripwires in our inner world. Small “things” that can set off big emotional reactions. They can come from anywhere: a passing comment, a certain smell, a familiar scene. What makes them so powerful is that they’re often tied to experiences we may not even consciously remember.
Inside the brain, the amygdala plays the role of an ever-watchful guard. It’s constantly scanning for danger, comparing what’s happening now to patterns it’s stored before. If something even slightly resembles a past hurt, the amygdala can set off a rapid chain reaction—before your logical brain, the prefrontal cortex, has time to step in. This is the essence of an amygdala hijack—when emotion overtakes reason in a split second.
Triggers often involve implicit memory, which stores the sensory and emotional parts of an experience without the conscious narrative. That’s why someone might feel tense in a certain room without realizing it’s because the space feels eerily similar to one where they once felt unsafe. These memories don’t live in your conscious mind, but your body still “remembers” through sensation, posture, and emotion.
The body’s response is physical as well as emotional. The nervous system springs into action, releasing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Your heart rate increases, muscles tense, and breathing may quicken. This is the fight-or-flight response, and while it’s designed to keep you safe, it can feel disorienting when it happens in situations that aren’t actually dangerous.
Here’s the hopeful part: thanks to neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to rewire itself, these responses can change. Repeatedly practicing grounding techniques, mindfulness, and safe connection during moments of discomfort teaches the brain to reassociate old triggers with safety instead of threat. Supporting this process also involves understanding how your body is functioning on a deeper level. Functional health testing—like the comprehensive labs offered through Function Health—can reveal hidden imbalances in hormones, inflammation, and stress response that influence how resilient your nervous system feels. Pairing these insights with daily practices creates the conditions for lasting change.
It’s worth noting that healing doesn’t mean you’ll never feel triggered again—it means that when triggers arise, they’ll lose their power to control your actions. The first step is noticing the trigger without judgment, then choosing a response that aligns with your values and current reality. In this way, triggers become not just obstacles but powerful indicators of where healing can happen next.
References:
van der Kolk, B.A. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score.
Siegel, D.J. (2010). The Mindful Therapist.
Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence.
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Understanding the stress response.
LeDoux, J. (1996). The Emotional Brain.
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