500 Word Project – Day 230

8:15 p.m.             19AUG14

In the course of yesterday’s posting and commenting in Facebook, a person asked about posting something more definitive on EFT – Emotional Freedom Techniques. EFT is a process, a free process that takes anywhere from just a few minutes to maybe as many as ten to fifteen minutes depending on the problem you want to solve. EFT allows you to directly talk to your subconscious mind – to change the programming that has been driving your entire life.

Your conscious mind is what you are aware of during your waking hours. Believe it or not, you do not have the willpower you think you do. Your subconscious mind controls the things you do – and, the things you don’t do. Your subconscious mind has one prime directive – to not allow any harm or embarrassment. It has a set of operating procedures – it doesn’t understand negative, it can’t tell the difference between real or imagined, it operates only in present time, but makes decisions based on the experiences/decisions that you have made in your life. It only understands certain words, feelings and images.

You can take advantage of your subconscious mind by planting thoughts and visions of what you want to happen – they become real to the subconscious mind, even though they never happened. Many people use affirmations and visualizations to plant these daily seeds into their subconscious minds. EFT can supercharge those unique words, feelings, emotions and visions and insert them effortlessly into your subconscious mind. I can spend another thousand or more words on the subconscious mind, but the purpose of today’s writing is to tell/show how to use EFT to help us (writers) when we need help the most – with writer’s block.

I chose writer’s block as an example. I rarely have it myself, but I do have problems with distractions and procrastination and other related human frailties that prevent me from writing more than I feel that I can or should write daily. I have combined some of the phrases I use to break my procrastination (I’m still on the forward edge of this problem – feeling my way around – determining what works and what doesn’t).

Briefly, EFT is similar to acupuncture, but no needles are used. You use your fingers to ‘tap’ the acupuncture/acupressure spots on your body (there are only eight of them). The tapping is done while you are saying a mantra. This mantra can be a set of phrases or sentences describing your final success. Much of the ‘how’ EFT works can be further researched by those needing to know more. I will provide the basic framework so that you (the reader) can begin using this technique ten minutes after you have read this article.

EFT starts with defining your problem. Writer’s block is caused by something. I preach a lot in my business about treating the cause of a problem, not the symptoms. What is causing your writer’s block? Sometimes it is well known – worry about something happening right now in your life. Sometimes it is a fear, or irrational belief – fear of success/embarrassment/failure. Many times it is a compilation of the negative thoughts accumulating in our brains and causing stress and anxiety. In reality, it is a combination of what you know and don’t know. EFT can clean them all out.

I suggest that anyone really interested in doing this observe three or four people doing in on YouTube. It gives you the details that I am leaving out in this short missive. We start by tapping the Karate chop area of one of your hands (I’ll use the left hand for my example since I am right-handed). I hold my left hand up and tap it continuously with the fingers of my right hand while describing the possible problems that I might have (you can use specific problems when you know them).

“Even though, I have these negative thoughts running continuously through my brain; even though, I have worry, frustration and anger; even though my stress levels are extremely high and I can’t seem to get rid of them – I totally and completely love, honor and accept myself. Even though, I have fear – fear of being judged, fear of doing it wrong, fear of ridicule, fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of being laughed at, fear of being criticized – I totally and completely love, honor and accept myself. Even though, I have frustration, dread, worry, and anxiety – I totally and completely love, honor and accept myself. Even though, I lack self confidence, the skills I need to be successful, the fear of losing control or getting it wrong – I totally and completely love, honor and accept myself.”

The set-up phrase includes anything you want it to include. You tap your Karate chop area the entire time you are defining your problem and accepting it. Then you move to the portion of EFT that begins the correction process.

You begin gently tapping in the center of your eyes (again with my right hand) with one or two fingers and saying the solutions to the problems you had defined earlier. “I am calm. I am calm. I am at peace.”

Move to the outside edge of your right eye. “I feel empowered to be a great writer. I have the skills to write exceptionally well.”

Move to just under the middle of your right eye. “I feel happy. I feel safe. I am adding value to other people every day.”

Move to just under your nose. “I am releasing any mental blocks I may have – those that I know about and recognize; and, those I don’t know or have forgotten. I have pride in the way I write.”

Move to your chin. “I expect success with every book I write. I intend to write daily. I write to help others who need the knowledge, wisdom and experience that I possess.”

Move to your collar bone and use your entire hand or fist (again, gently). “I feel joy and happiness. I take pride in the books I write. I release all the stress and frustration that I have – down to the cellular level in my body. I release all the negative feelings that I have. I let go of the limiting beliefs that I have adopted over my life.”

Move to the side of your chest about four inches below your arm pit. “I am safe. I love myself. I have joy. I am happy. I sense achievement and success in the things I do in my life, especially my writing.”

Move to the top of your head – middle, between your ears. “I choose to remain positive. I am proud of my writing. I command my body to release all tension, frustration, stress, anxiety, fear, anger and dread. I chose what needs to be done – not allow it to choose my attention.”

This is one cycle of EFT. You repeat again with the tapping on your face between your eyes. You do not repeat the set-up phrase. You can choose the words you think are most appropriate for your specific set of circumstances. I recommend doing this tapping process through at least six cycles. If you were to measure your anxiety level before starting and compare it after each cycle, you would expect to feel less and less anxiety. I find that six cycles works well for me.

EFT can be used for so many things – weight loss, fear, stress, clarity, pain, goal-setting, self-confidence, allergies, grief and many, many more conditions that affect you and your energy levels. Again, go to YouTube and watch a few videos to see other people use EFT to solve their problems.

1279 words         8:49 p.m.