"Triggering Event"

One concept from the book that I know we all have witnessed and/or taken part of is the triggering event. This is a behavior or an action in a conflict that one or more people draws as the beginning of the problem. Examples from the book include doing something offensive, not doing something that is expected out of you, breaking a rule in a relationship, and simply saying something offensive. One thing to remember about triggering events is that the reaction doesn’t necessarily come right after the conflict begins. In other words, an example would be bottled up emotion about something your partner may do that bothers you and then you explode when he/she does it again at a certain time. One of my best friends has a fowl mouth and for the most part it doesn’t bother me when we are by ourselves. But that is a different story when we are out in public because it is impolite and it bothers me. So I addressed my issue with her that I’ve had and me approaching her triggered an argument. In her eyes I said something offensive. So sometimes it takes a moment like this to begin conflict between two people rather than conflict within you by not saying anything aloud.