Are Triggers Medicine?

I recently read a social media post that said, “You will inspire some and trigger others. Both are medicine.”

I completely disagree.

Triggers are not medicine; they are stimuli that can shrink your emotional capacity in the moment and disrupt your rhythm.

When our emotional capacity narrows, we have less space to respond intentionally. We may fall into familiar protective patterns instead of acting from awareness.

This is why space, awareness, and rhythm are foundational to my approach to healing. We need space to recognize what's happening, awareness to understand our reactions, and rhythm to support our return to ourselves.

The trigger isn't the medicine. Healing can begin with what we discover about ourselves and how we choose to use that awareness.

A Trigger is an Invitation to Examine Yourself

My work centers on awareness.

I speak authentically, share from personal experience, teach what I believe, and explore mental and emotional well-being through the lens of spirituality, nature, and the rhythms of life.

My connection to the Moon, nature, seasonal cycles, and intuition forms the spiritual foundation of my work. I believe healing happens in phases, and I use these natural rhythms to make the process of self-discovery accessible, engaging, and maybe even a little fun.

The Moon and nature are available to all of us. Their cycles exist whether we notice them or not. I use them as metaphors in my healing framework to understand our own experiences.

• The New Moon reflects Spring, beginnings, and the patience it takes to start again. If triggered during a New Moon phase, you may be confronting uncertainty or fear of the unknown.

• The waxing Moon reflects Summer, what we're building, and where we may need support. Triggers in a waxing Moon phase may come from disappointment.

• The Full Moon reflects Fall, illuminating what we're ready, willing, and able to see, and the courage required to acknowledge it. If triggered while in a Full Moon phase, you may fear what you discover or what will happen if you act on what you see.

• The waning Moon reflects Winter, inviting us to navigate endings, grief, release, and integration with grace. Triggers during a waning Moon phase may reveal resistance to change, grief, or difficulty letting go.

These symbolic phases of healing offer different perspectives for examining our experiences. Triggers can also offer valuable insight into what needs our attention during those phases.

When Triggers Reveal Old Wounds

I believe triggers reveal where we are not free. They can expose old wounds, limiting beliefs, and protective patterns that continue to influence how we experience the world. But if something triggers you, that doesn't automatically mean someone needs to change what they say.

It might mean there's something for you to explore.

I am in a women’s Bible study. We are working through a book about discovering core lies. I was excited since this is literally my work.

But when I got to page nineteen, my younger self dug in her heels.

I was triggered.

The section title read, "The Top Three Core Lies," but none of the three lies listed were mine.

The book we're reading is about discovering lies, and right there on page nineteen was a statement that felt like another lie being imposed on me.

I felt it in my body. My heart raced; I got hot; I felt jittery.

All of a sudden, I was this little five-year-old girl being dragged, kicking and screaming, through the halls of the church I grew up in. They decided it was time I went back to my own age-group class. I had clung to my sister after a family crisis. She was my safe place, and they said, "no more," without praying one word. It was force, not love.

Here I was, a fifty-two-year-old woman, forced into three categories that didn't describe my experience.

I couldn’t do it.

The author didn't know my history. She didn't know about the little girl who had been forced into a situation where she felt unsafe. She couldn't have known that three seemingly ordinary words would activate that memory.

Honestly, I didn’t see it coming either. We rarely see triggers coming. The author wasn't responsible for my reaction, but I was responsible for what I did next.

I had to step away from the study.

I made a special appointment with my therapist.

I took a Sharpie and blacked out the section title, renaming it Three Common Core Lies.

Ultimately, I was there for connection, not healing. Eventually, I was able to return.

Returning From a Trigger

I knew what was happening in that moment. I’ve been healing for decades. I could see it in real time.

I sat with my experience.

I breathed through it.

I talked about it.

I journaled.

I took full responsibility for examining my own reactions.

Using my own framework, I realized I found myself in a Full Moon phase. The trigger illuminated an unmet need of my younger self. I realized what I was experiencing was real and happening in the present moment, but the danger belonged to the past.

I had to find the courage to realize I was no longer that little girl with no choice. I didn't have to accept the book's words, so I changed them—literally.

I didn't need the author to change the book for everyone. I changed my relationship with it. I made it work for me.

Healing doesn't require us to accept someone else's interpretation as our truth. Sometimes it means widening our perspective enough to recognize that we have a choice.

At five years old, I didn't have a choice about being separated from my sister. At fifty-two, I could choose what those words meant to me, how I engaged with them, and whether I continued the study.

I didn't have to force myself into someone else's categories.

I picked up a Sharpie and created my own.

In that moment, I reclaimed my agency.

Triggers, Boundaries, and Self-Trust

I think triggers connect to something fundamental about self-trust.

Through my Healing Spiral, I teach that awareness opens the door to change. Small, intentional actions create evidence, and that evidence helps us build self-trust. That’s what creates lasting change in our lives.

Imagine if I'd contacted the author and demanded she rewrite her book because her words triggered me.

Honestly, for a moment, I considered it.

Imagine if I had, and she felt obligated to change her teachings because of my personal history. Neither of us would have been honoring ourselves.

Instead, I took responsibility for my reaction while allowing her to remain responsible for her words. That's where self-trust enters the conversation.

When we constantly modify our words, opinions, and behavior to keep others from becoming uncomfortable, we can begin to lose our own voice.

We stop asking, "Is what I'm saying true to my experience and values?"

And start asking, "Will everyone be okay with me saying this?"

Those are very different rhythms—different ways of moving through the world. Self-trust isn't believing everyone will agree with you. It's learning to remain grounded in yourself when they don't.

I had to re-ground myself in that study to return.

I had to remain true to myself.

I had to trust myself.

I wasn’t rigid or unwilling to learn. I stayed open to other perspectives without giving up my own.

We can be compassionate without carrying someone else's emotional responsibility. We can remain curious without surrendering our convictions. And we can disagree without demanding that someone else change to make us comfortable.

I am responsible for what I bring into the conversation.

I am not responsible for everything the conversation brings up in anyone else.