What Are Triggers?

Did you ever wonder? What are emotional triggers - how do they work?

We're going to explain the science behind how your brain remembers emotional experiences and shapes your reactions. 

Or in other words:

What's the Science Behind Why You Keep Feeling Weird Things Out of Nowhere?

Have you ever smelled something random and BAM—suddenly you’re back in high school, sitting in the cafeteria? Or maybe you hear a song and feel all emotional, but you can’t even figure out why. Welcome to the world of emotional triggers! These sneaky little buggers are constantly pulling the strings on your emotions, thanks to how your brain remembers and processes past experiences.

Let’s break it down: your emotions aren’t some mystical force that just happens. There’s a whole science behind how your brain takes in sensory info (like smells, sounds, sights) and turns them into emotions. It’s all tied to the memory systems in your brain, specifically this cool little part called the hippocampus. Don’t worry, I’ll explain it all in a fun way. Ready? Let’s go!

How Emotions Are Formed (Hint: It All Starts with Your Senses)

You probably don’t realize it, but everything you experience—whether it’s a pizza slice, a TikTok video, or a summer breeze—comes into your brain through your senses. Yep, emotions are kickstarted by your sensory input: what you see, hear, smell, touch, or taste.

Imagine this: you see a dog, and your brain goes, “Hey, I’ve seen that before!” Immediately, it starts pulling together information based on past experiences. The brain processes all the sensory data—how the dog looks, the sounds around you, maybe the smell of wet fur (ew)—and gets to work. That’s where emotions come in.

In your brain, you’ve got something called the amygdala, which is the emotional HQ. This part of the brain is like the friend who reacts to everything—happy, scared, angry, you name it. But it doesn’t work alone! It’s besties with the hippocampus, which is like your brain’s personal historian. While the amygdala feels the feels, the hippocampus stores all the deets about what happened.

So when something happens—say, that dog barks—the amygdala gets all emotional about it, while the hippocampus pulls out the emotional memory that goes with it, like “Hey, remember that time a dog bit you when you were five? Yeah, let’s freak out now!”

That’s how emotions are formed. Sensory input → brain freaks out (or chills out) → emotions are triggered.

Your Senses Are Always in On It

So, here’s the wild part: your senses are always part of how your brain stores emotional memories. That’s why triggers are often linked to sensory experiences. You know when you hear a song from middle school, and suddenly you feel like an awkward 13-year-old again? That’s because your brain has connected the song (sensory input) with all the emotions you had back then (feeling awkward, maybe embarrassed, definitely in love with your middle-school crush).

Here’s a quick breakdown of how your senses play a role:

• Sight: You see something familiar (like your old bedroom at your parents’ house), and suddenly you’re hit with memories of your high school days.
• Sound: A specific song plays, and your brain pulls up memories of a past relationship, making you feel all kinds of things.
• Smell: The smell of sunscreen might take you back to beach vacations and make you feel relaxed.
• Taste: Ever eaten something and instantly thought, “Wow, this tastes like childhood”? Your brain is connecting taste with emotional memories.
• Touch: The feel of certain fabrics (like your favorite old hoodie) can remind you of specific times in your life, bringing back those emotions.

The brain is super-efficient—it doesn’t just store the facts; it stores the sensory experience and connects everything with the emotional meaning.

That’s why certain sensory inputs can be triggers for emotions, even if the original experience happened years ago.

What Causes Emotional Triggers: How Emotional Triggers Work

(AKA, Why You’re Suddenly Sad for No Reason)

Now, here’s where things get interesting. Your brain’s emotional response system doesn’t just sit around doing nothing. It’s constantly working in the background. When you encounter a situation today, your brain compares it to past experiences that you might not even consciously remember.

The hippocampus, which stores all your emotional memories, is constantly going, “Oh, this feels familiar! I know this!” and boom, suddenly you’re having a strong emotional reaction. But sometimes, the brain gets a little overenthusiastic and pulls out emotions from way back in your memory vault—things you didn’t even know you were holding onto.

Example: You walk past a bakery and smell fresh bread. All of a sudden, you feel nostalgic and happy. Turns out, your brain connected that smell with memories of baking with your grandma as a kid. Even if you don’t consciously remember those baking sessions, your brain does, and it’s decided that bread = happy.

On the flip side, you might feel anxious walking down a street that looks like the place where you once got lost. Your brain remembers the fear from that experience and decides to trigger anxiety, even though you're perfectly safe now.

Can You Rewire Your Brain (Yes, You Can Totally Do That!)

We’ve talked about how emotions are triggered, but here’s the cool part: you can actually rewire your brain. This amazing ability, known as neuroplasticity, is your brain’s way of adapting and forming new connections. You’re not doomed to react to emotional triggers the same way forever!

Your brain is like a road map. Every time you react to a trigger, your brain follows familiar, well-worn paths. The more you react in the same way, the stronger those connections become. But with conscious effort, you can take new routes—responding differently to old triggers—and build new neural pathways over time. This means you can literally train your brain to react in new, healthier ways.

The Subconscious Mind: The Brain’s Memory Vault

Here’s where the subconscious mind comes in. Your subconscious is like the storage room for all your past experiences, habits, and emotional responses—especially those you might not even remember. It’s the autopilot that guides how you react to the world based on the emotional memories stored deep within it. And a key player in this process is the hippocampus.

The hippocampus, part of your brain's memory system, is part of the functioning of the subconscious mind. It stores emotional memories and helps link past experiences to present situations. So when you encounter a trigger—a smell, a sound, or a situation—your hippocampus works behind the scenes, pulling up past emotional experiences and influencing your reaction, often without you even realizing it.

Let’s say, for instance, you feel a surge of anxiety when speaking in front of others. It might be because your hippocampus is recalling an old memory of embarrassment or failure, even if you’re not consciously aware of it. This automatic reaction is your subconscious mind at work.

How to Reprogram Your Subconscious Mind 

It all starts with awareness. The first step is to recognize your triggers. When you become aware of what sets off your emotional reactions, you can begin to take control. But don’t just stop at noticing the trigger—dive deeper. Ask yourself, “Why am I reacting this way?”

Here’s where things get powerful: you need to let the trigger lead you back to the original experience stored in your subconscious mind. Often, the intense reaction you’re feeling now is rooted in a past emotional experience that your hippocampus is holding onto. Maybe it’s something you’ve forgotten, but your subconscious remembers. By identifying the root event, you can start to heal the old emotional wound.

Once you’ve traced the trigger back to its origin and processed the emotion around it, you can begin to rewire your brain. This is where neuroplasticity kicks in. By tapping into the stored experiences of your subconscious mind and making conscious changes, you can truly reshape your emotional responses and transform the way you experience life.

The MindConscious Map is a tool for tracking your triggers & rewiring your brain.

If you’re ready to stop letting emotional triggers run the show, it’s time to dive deeper into understanding and reprogramming your subconscious mind. Trust me, you have way more control over your emotions than you think! You just need the right tools.

The MindConscious Map, is a tool that will help you recognize your emotional triggers, understand how your brain processes these emotions, and rewire your reactions. If you’re ready to take control of your subconscious mind and break free from those emotional triggers, take the MindConscious Map Free training. 

Click here to join the free course and learn how to reprogram your subconscious mind like a pro. It’s time to say goodbye to unexpected emotional meltdowns and hello to emotional freedom!