Manage your emotional triggers

Key takeaways

A trigger is an emotional reaction to someone else’s behaviour.
Those reactions can be tough to anticipate, but when you know what’s likely to set you off, you can be prepared going in.

What is an emotional trigger?

A trigger is an emotional reaction to someone else’s behaviour.

How to identify emotional triggers

Not everyone responds in the same way. Some people may be fine sitting with someone who is crying, for example, but find anger hard to take.

To get you thinking, here are a few emotions that might be triggers for you. What else do you find hard to deal with?

Passive-aggressive behaviour
Whining
Crying
Anger
Aggression
Silent treatment
Sarcasm
Deceit
Arrogance

How to manage emotional triggers

Follow this 4-step exercise to take stock of your own response to emotions and plan for next time:

Which emotional reactions can you deal with easily? Identify what you’re already good at dealing with to help get a sense of the tools you already have.
Which emotional reactions do you have a hard time with? Take a look at the list above or think about times in your life you’ve reacted badly to other people's emotions.
What is it that’s challenging to you about those emotions? Think about times you’ve dealt with this before and had a hard time. What was your thought process? Why was it hard?
What factors might help you deal with them better? Think about a time you dealt with this trigger well. What helped? Was it the environment, your emotional state or something else?

What's next?

Talking to a health professional and/or loved ones in your life may help you to manage your emotional triggers.
If you have health benefits through your workplace,Opens in a new window check your plan details to see if you have any coverage that could help such as benefits for seeing a social worker or psychiatrist, a wellness account, or access to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

This material is for information purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as providing legal or tax advice. Every effort has been made to ensure its accuracy, but errors and omissions are possible. All comments related to taxation are general in nature and are based on current Canadian tax legislation and interpretations for Canadian residents, which are subject to change. For individual circumstances, consult with your tax, legal or accounting professionals. This information is provided by The Canada Life Assurance Company and is current as of date of publication.