Triggers 

We all get triggered due to physiological and psychological factors. The best thing you can do is increase your self-awareness in these moments. This gets you in touch with what’s prompting the trigger and how it’s negatively impacting you to shut down, overreact, or act out. Self-reflection and slowing down the process can leave room for insight, flexibility, and transformation. Understanding what prompts the negative cycle and how it spirals and gets played out is critical. It helps us to avoid getting hooked by it and perpetuating maladaptive and unproductive behaviors. Getting stuck can lead to shameful and regretful decision-making and acting in ways we would prefer not to.

 Ways to Directly Transform Your Triggers

1. Recognize that your brain functions on an unconscious level relatively easily because it requires less work and brain capacity. However, when you seek to understand and name what triggers and activates you, you want to act with conscious awareness, so you mindfully process and strategize to ensure your behaviors align with your values and who you strive to be. Periodically check in with yourself to assess whether you’re focused, tuned in, and being in the present moment. You can do this by training your mind through mindfulness exercises and meditative practices, which have been empirically proven beneficial.

2. Gain more understanding and familiarity around your projections (someone unconsciously attributes their thoughts, feelings, or behaviors to another person), negative core beliefs, narratives, impulses, and values. When these are rubbed up against, you’re more likely to be triggered. Be curious and commit to studying yourself. All of these can be effectively assessed through therapy, self-exploration, we can help walk you through the barriers that get in the way of your acceptance, compassion, and empowerment and how to facilitate and integrate it effectively.

3. Get keenly familiar with your adaptations to understand your triggers better. Seek to understand what accommodations you made to “survive” what was challenging or difficult for you. Evaluate how this gets enacted or acted out in your general behavior and in your relationships. For example, if in your family of origin, it was overtly or subliminally communicated that a difference of opinion or conflict was to be avoided at all costs, you may people-please, avoid communicating your needs, or become avoidant when you perceive conflict will ensue. These situations can trigger reactions and responses that perpetuate regressive and non-helpful or counterproductive behaviors.

4. Understand the utility of your thoughts and feelings to understand your triggers better. Thoughts and feelings ebb and flow, which could be from moment to moment, contingent on perceptions, experiences, coping skills, and many other factors. Within a given hour, you can flow through an array of emotions, such as joyfulness, sadness, and anger. Take pauses, be curious, and study your thoughts and feelings. Notice if you have reactions or judgments about your thoughts and feelings. Commit to and invest in being in whatever feeling state shows up based on your perceptions or judgments, with the awareness and understanding that you’ll come out of it with greater self-awareness and self-compassion, empowered to act in ways that align with your authentic self. Instead of reacting immediately, impulsively, and at face value, take the time to act from your evolved and cultivated adult self.

5. Don’t believe everything that’s thought or felt. Trigger reactions happen in the limbic or emotional center of the brain, so they can be irrational. They often elicit the part of us that cannot hear or listen to reason. Question the quality of your thoughts and feelings. How do they show up? Why do they show up that way? What does it mean to you? Recognize they’re not an evaluation of who you are or a sign of your progress. They’re not set in stone and are often not factual but rather associations you make and can be disruptive because your mind is trying to protect you. Thoughts and feelings can be reframed and shifted.

6. Realize that not all thoughts and feelings, whether emotionally, somatically, or physiologically, need to be reacted to. We give too much credence to our thoughts and feelings and have the impression we must always react to them. They’re helpful in letting you know what’s meaningful to you, but that doesn’t mean you have to react to them instantaneously. Perpetually keep in mind that your behaviors are a choice, even if it doesn’t feel like it in the moment. Take the time to gently and compassionately remind yourself that you are the CEO of your life and get to make decisions on your own behalf. Take time to observe, name, contemplate, and evaluate your triggers. Ask yourself, “What triggered me?” “Why was I triggered?” “What does this connect to (is it a projection, is it rubbing up against a core value, a negative belief about myself, or a wounded part of myself, etc.)?” “How did I previously behave based on my reaction and automatic responses?” “How do I want to currently behave based on my values, my best self, and who I strive to be?”

7. Thank your mind for its generosity and graciousness in making you aware of your unhealed parts or unresolved issues through your triggers. It’s your brain and body’s way of protecting you from discomfort and “danger.” When you are triggered, it’s emblematic of your need to self-reflect and gain insight as to your wounded parts or the unresolved issues that you still need to attend to. You can create new neural networks in your brain and rewire your nervous system to perceive and react to things differently going forward. You can reframe things and notice your resilience, how much you’ve grown, and your ability to change.

8. Recognize that your journey to act in the realm of your values will be an ongoing commitment and practice with slips and triggers along the way. Give yourself some grace. Remind yourself that you’re attempting to change years of conditioned behaviors and develop a compassionate relationship with yourself and others as you and they work toward healing and growth. You and others will be more open to change and recalibrating when it’s necessary when feeling free of judgment, nurtured, and supported. When you learn to gain deeper awareness around your triggers and can self-soothe and act mindfully, then you can shift from self-blame and projection onto others to accountability, sharing, and connection. Triggers are little gifts that enhance your ability to notice unhealed or unresolved parts of yourself and point directly to where you have personal work to do to improve yourself and your relationships with others. These moments can be appreciated and celebrated on your journey toward growth and enhancement.

Have you ever found yourself reacting to a situation almost automatically, like your body moved faster than your mind? Maybe it was a moment of stress, frustration, celebration, or loneliness. In recovery, these moments often feel like mental ambushes. A familiar emotion or setting appears, and suddenly, your brain jumps in with an answer: "I know what to do here. We've been through this before." The problem is, that answer is often tied to old, destructive habits. But what if you could insert a simple pause. It often responds based on the remembered past, not what's actually happening in the neural present.

That pause could be your greatest asset. Your superpower.

Why We React Before We Think

Our brains are magnificent pattern-recognition machines. From the moment we're born, they begin forming associations based on our environment and experiences. Over time, these associations become habits—many helpful, some harmful. And when we encounter situations that feel familiar, the brain takes a shortcut. It delivers a fast, thoughtful response based on memory. This isn't a character flaw or a weakness. It's biology. It's survival. In many cases, the brain is trying to protect you. But for those of us in recovery, this protective mechanism can become a trap. The trigger doesn't have to be a drink, a drug, or even a person. It could be a smell, a time of day, a location, or an emotion--anything. And when it hits, it can feel like the only path is the old path.

This is where the pause comes in.

What is the Pause?

The pause is a conscious, intentional interruption between your trigger and your response. It's that small space where awareness lives. In that space, you get to ask yourself:

What am I feeling?

What is this situation reminding me of?

What do I really want or need right now?

Is there another way to handle this?

The pause can be one breath. One step outside. One phone call. One journal entry. It doesn't have to be long. It just has to be there. And when it is, you gain something powerful: choice.

Pausing Isn't Easy. But It's Worth It.

Let's be honest: when the urge is strong, pausing can feel impossible. Urges don't ask for permission. They crash in, loud and persuasive. But this is exactly why building your pause muscle is so important. Like any new skill, pausing gets easier with practice. You won't do it perfectly. You may forget. You may pause too late, that's okay. The goal isn't perfection, it is progress. Over time, the pause helps rewire your brain. Instead of reacting from the past, you start responding from the present. Instead of feeling powerless, you begin to feel prepared.

Using SMART Tools to Strengthen the Pause

One of the most practical tools in SMART Recovery is the Urge Log. This simple worksheet allows you to track urges, identify patterns, and learn from them. You write down:

What happened before the urge?

What thoughts or feelings did you experience?

What did you do?

How did you feel afterward?

The Urge Log does two critical things:

It gives your insight. You start to see what consistently triggers your urges. That awareness becomes your early warning system. It reinforces the pause. When you reflect on what worked, or didn't, you reinforce the idea that you do have the ability to choose differently. When you anticipate a trigger and plan your response in advance, you make it easier to pause in the moment. You train your brain to expect a new outcome, not just fall into an old pattern.

Building Your Superpower

Think of the pause as a superhero origin story. No one wakes up with instant powers. There's always a journey—a period of learning, stumbling, adapting, and growing. But eventually, what once seemed unnatural becomes second nature. Here are a few ways to build your pause muscle:

Practice mindfulness. Even five minutes a day of focusing on your breath can help you slow down when it matters.

Visualize your pause. Before going into a known trigger situation, imagine yourself successfully pausing and making a healthy choice.

Use grounding techniques. When triggered, engage your senses: name five things you can see, four you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell, one you can taste.

Talk it out. Call someone in your support network. Saying what you're feeling out loud can delay impulsive action.

Reward your success. Every time you pause, even for a second, acknowledge it. You just made progress. 

Recovery isn't about never being triggered. It's about knowing how to respond when you are. And the pause is your secret weapon. It won't always feel natural, but each time you pause, even if you stumble afterward, you're breaking the automatic cycle. You're rewiring your mind. You're reclaiming your power. SMART Recovery is a science- and evidence-informed program that provides educational and peer support to those who want to abstain and gain independence from all addictive behaviors, whether or not they involve alcohol or drugs. The program emphasizes