Maga Woman Magazine - issue #4

Subconscious
Mind Triggers —
what sets
you off?
Written by: Angela Counsel
We live busy lives. There is so
much going on. Work, life,
family, meetings, managing
a household, being in the
right place in the right time,
squishing some exercise and me time in there
somewhere – it gets crazy. I get that.
But if you find yourself in a continual pattern
of reaction – irritability, being stressed, being
fearful or in pain – it’s important to look at what
might be triggering these negative emotions.
What makes things really tricky is that it may
be subconscious triggers.
Some people may cope well at work but fall
apart at home. Or vice versa. It depends on the
sort of person you are.
A trigger may also be related to colours,
smells, tastes, sound.
So, let’s ask why. Why do we have these
things that set us off? Why does the subconscious
mind trigger certain reactions in us? A lot
of the time it’s to do with situations that have
happened in the past.
Let’s talk about smell. I know my grandmother
used to smell of lavender. Every time
I smell lavender, it takes me back to spending
time with her. It triggers a positive reaction. It
reminds me of love and being nurtured at a
young age.
But what happens if the opposite happens?
What if a smell or sound or a colour take us
back to something scary or stressful that happened
in our past? Sometimes we can’t remember
that far back. As children, we may have
been in a particularly stressful situation – saw
something, heard something, felt something, or
smelt something – and now it sits in our subconscious
mind unable to process.
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Maga Women Magazine