Lately, after being exposed to EFT, when I hear somebody being in emotional distress, the first thing I think is "He/she should tap on that". The funny thing is that it happens also when I watch a movie: a character would be very angry/upset/frustrated/mad, and I think "just tap on it!", and the phrases automatically form on my mind. I catch myself mid-thinking, and it always makes me smile. However, I am having a hard time bringing myself to use EFT with my family and friends. First, they're not really into the "everything is energy" thinking; and second, I guess it's harder to treat someone you're so deeply attached to. Pretty much like doctors that don;t treat their own family, maybe? I am aware that the problem is mine and not theirs, and of course this gives me more material for tapping. As if I didn'd have enough already...
Gary Craig compares our issues to forests. Each tree in the forest represents and issue, and the branches represent different aspects of it. Right now I am identifying my trees, and there are so many! Sometimes I think each issue is a whole forest in my mind. For example, money. For me, it takes more than one tree. My issues with money are complex, and as it's usually the case, they go way back to childhood. I am not poor, and I am not rich; I sit in a comfortable middle. However, I am pretty stingy with money, acting like sometime in the future there might not be enough. I really don't like being like that, but it's so deeply ingrained that's hard to shake it off.
I also deal the issue of quality vs. quantity: even though I logically know that's better to buy a more expensive item of better quality (let's say, clothes), I often end up buying cheaper items, usually getting what I paid for. Of course I beat myself up later, when I realize that either a) I bought more than one item, which brings me close in price to what I would have paid for the expensive item, or b) the item(s) I bought are of such a poor quality that it's not worth even what I paid for. This brings also another money-related issue, but also intertwined with self-esteem: I am not worthy of spending money on myself. Oh dear, this is a deep one! Tap, tap, tap.
More on money: the phrases (heard a lot during childhood, mostly uttered by my mom) "Money doesn't grow on trees", "What do you think, that we are the Rockefellers?" (Mom loved that one), "It seems that having money gives you the itches" (every time I spent on something she didn't approve of), "We are not rich", "Take your medicine! Do you know the amount of money it costs me?", and more I don't recall now. I love my mom dearly, but as everybody else, I have some issues with her. The good thing is that EFT made me realize she did the best she could or she knew, and now it's up to me to clear out what doesn't help and keep the good stuff. And there's a lot of both.
Question of the day: what are your issues with money?
Happy tapping!
For all of you who are not familiar with EFT, let's do a fast recap of the technique. First of all, we identify an issue that's bugging us (emotional or physical) and we ask ourselves the question "where do I feel this "X"? ("X" is the issue). Then we give it an estimated number for the intensity of the feeling in a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 equal to not bothering us at all, and 10 a very high intensity. Once we identified the issue, where we feel it, and its intensity, it's time to start tapping!
1.
The setup. The setup is meant to take care of psychological reversals (or self-sabotage as I see them). We repeat the setup phrase 3 times while tapping on the karate chop point (KC), which is the fleshy part in the side of the hand between the pinky and the wrist.
The setup takes the form "Even though I have this "X", I deeply and completely accept myself" (or "Even though I have this "X", I choose to love and accept myself", or something similar).
So we tap the KC point WHILE saying the phrase three times and focusing on thre problem, feeling the intensity as much as we can.
Example: let's say the issue is being angry at a coworker, and I feel it in my neck and shoulders, with an intensity of 8. The setup would be " Even though I am angry at Susan for not doing her part of the project, I totally and completely accept myself". I would say this three times while tapping the KC point.
2.
The "sequence". We do a round of tapping while saying a shortcut of the setup phrase, a "reminder", like "This X". The points to be tapped (let's do a full sequence for now) are in this order: Eye Brow (EB), Side of Eye (SE), Under the Eye (UE), Under the Nose (UN), Chin (CH), CollarBone (CB), and Under the Arm (UA). I would tap about seven tines each point WHILE saying the reminder phrase. Then, after tapping the last point, we take a deep breath and assess the feeling again, in a scale of 0 to 10.
Example: continuing with the issue of anger at the coworker, the reminder phrase would be "angry at Susan", and I would tap all the listed points, about seven times each. Then take a big breath and reassess how my neck and shoulders feel, and of course my anger at Susan, in a scale of 0 to 10.
Following rounds: If there is some anger left (or all of it...) I would do a repetition of steps 1 and 2, with the following changes: in the setup, the phrase would be "Even though I have some of this X left, I totally and completely accept myself". The sequence's reminder would be "remaining X".
Example: "Even though I have some of this anger st Susan left, I totally and completely accept myself". The sequence's reminder would be "remaining anger at Susan".
That's all for today. Happy tapping!
Somehow, after a year fighting depression, I got acquainted with EFT. One session helped me more than six months of therapy, go figure. Then I decided I needed to learn this technique for using it on myself and others. This was six months ago, and there is still a lot for me to learn. I am writing this blog for many purposes: one, to charter my journey with EFT; two, to connect with other people with the same interests; three, to help people with EFT; and fourth, to try this blogging thing, something I wanted to do for some time.
So, what is EFT? EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Technique, and it was created by Gary Craig, based on Robert Callahan's TFT. It's like doing acupressure while focusing on emotional or physical issues, and repeating certain key phrases. You tap on a series of points located on the eyebrow, side of the eye, under the eye, under the nose, chin, collarbone, under the arm, and on several points on the hands. There are other points that can be tapped, like on top of he head, for example. I must admit it looks very weird and unconventional, but after feeling it work on myself I will take weird over suffering any minute :-)
If you are interested, there are many resources on the Net, and some good videos on YouTube. So far I have used EFT on depression, cravings, and migraines, although I didn't manage to stop my migraines completely yet. I guess there is a lot more work to do on that one.
The questions of the day are: How did you get acquainted with EFT? Do you EFT on your own?
