🔼: [[💡 Emotional Dysregulation]], [[💡 Overwhelm]] ##### Trigger > "We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are." > — [[👤 Anaïs Nin]] A trigger is a kind of cue, a [[Stimulation|sensory experience]] that tells some [[💡 Parts|part of us]] that we are in immediate danger and we need to do something about it **right now**. It’s something that happens in the present that either makes us feel like we're in the past or makes us assume things will play out the way they did in the past. It is anything with the potential to immediately force us out of our [[💡 Window of Tolerance|Window of Tolerance]] and into a state of [[💡 Emotional Dysregulation|emotional dysregulation]] or [[💡 Overwhelm|overwhelm]] that is disproportionate to what's actually happening in the present moment – like a tiny spark setting off an entire box of fireworks at once. They might be smells, sounds, specific words, objects, movements, a look or gesture, a way of speaking, or a way of carrying yourself — [[🔑 triggers are often idiosyncratic]]. %% Emotional dog-whistles %% A trigger is a sign that our [[💡 Proactive Protectors|Proactive Protectors]] have been bypassed and our [[💡 Exiles|exiles]] have been reached. From the outside it looks like making mountains out of molehills; inside it’s more like the tip of an iceberg. In [[Heather's Story|Heather's story]], her trigger is being seen wearing dirty clothing: >![[Heather's Story#^df91d3]] ###### Keys - We are more vulnerable to triggers when we are struggling with [[⭐️ Sleep|sleep]], [[💡 Stress|stress]], hunger, or feeling too busy, lonely or [[💡 Overwhelm|overwhelmed]]. ###### Related - [[🦮 How to Soothe Triggered Parts]] - [[⭐️ Safety Tools and Resources]] - [[🧘 Trigger Practice]] - [[💡 Self-Righteousness|Self-Righteousness]]