Anxiety! Nervousness! Overwhelm! Fear!
Any of these emotions sound familiar to you right now?
Well, you’re not alone, even though you may feel very alone. Millions are feeling exactly what your feeling.
And how about feeling isolated, angry, stuck and even paralyzed?
If you’re having any of these feelings you probably want to run away, get out of your body and escape but there’s no where to run, is there? You then might feel like you’re a prisoner forced to stew in all your negative feelings and scary thoughts. Talk about feeling at effect of your own body! Of your own thoughts? I know, you’re probably trying really hard to keep everything under control but the more you try to get a grip on things the more out of control you feel.
Maybe, if you’re lucky, you have brief moments of reprieve when you’re able to distract yourself with your favorite comfort food or binge watch the latest popular series on Netflix or put up a good front on a Zoom call with a friend. But when the distraction has run its course you’re back again in your body and in your head, the anxiety stronger than ever.
This is not a pretty site! Is it? This is not the life you want. Nor is it the life you were expecting or were prepared for. So how do you change the channel?
Maybe, just maybe did you ever consider that in these unprecedented times it might just call for unprecedented measures? Maybe it’s time for you to be open to trying something you’ve never tried before? To try something that in the past you would have thought too weird or too outside the box for you. So are you to the point yet where you want to give up? I’m going to say something now that may shock you. If you are at the point of wanting to surrender that might be a great place to be right now.
What do you mean by surrender?
I mean to surrender yourself to your emotions. Surrender yourself to the uncertainty. Surrender yourself to the lack of control you’re experiencing right now. Quit trying to control that which you can’t control and start learning what you can control.
Think of it this way. Instead of sitting on the beach in the surf getting pummeled by the waves, be proactive and confront the wave at the point where it breaks. And the truth is the only way to get on the other side of the breaker is to accept the pain and struggle of going through it.
This is where a technique called Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) also known as “tapping” might be the exact tool you need right now. Why? Because this amazing technique helps you gently go through that turbulence you’re feeling. Slowly it can walk you through the storm of your feelings and in a matter of minutes you can feel the results.
So how exactly does it work you may ask.
Well it is a simple technique that moves energy.
And then your next question might be and why would I want to move energy?
Emotions, like everything else in the universe, are nothing but energy. When you feel negative emotions what’s happened is that you have allowed that energy to take up residence in your body. Negative thoughts also are energy that get stuck in your mind. Both can affect your spirit. That’s not a criticism or an admonishment that you did something to yourself. It’s not meant to be an accusation or pointing blame. We all do it. We’re all full of crap, if you will. It’s part of the human experience of learning and growth. Humans have free will. We are born to create our own lives. And part of that creation is that we are also wired so that when we have a feeling or a thought that is uncomfortable, we will feel some form of resistance about it. We will feel unsettled and out of sorts. But, and this is the best part, it is only out of that uncomfortableness that we will be inspired to learn and grow. In other words, our pain is the birthplace of change. Change over time is how we evolve.
Tapping is a technique that guides you through a simple process where you acknowledge what you’re are feeling and thinking. When you do this it allows you on an energetic level to move those negative thoughts and emotions out of you which is another way of saying you are able to let them go. And think about it, you can’t let go of something until you first acknowledge it. Makes sense doesn’t it? When you release the emotions you feel lighter. More at peace. It’s like being on the other side of the breaker where you ride the waves and go with the flow of the ocean current. Tapping helps you walk through the breaker and into the flow of life. You’re going with the current and not at the mercy of it’s force.
So are you ready to give it a try? Good! I was hoping you’d say that.
Refer to the “tapping points” chart above.
All you need to do is as you say words (and don’t worry I’ll give you a script below to get you started) and tap lightly with your first and second finger on the points on the chart. You tap around 5-7 times at each point. Going through all the tapping points is called “a round.” You do as many rounds asyou need until you feel a shift. Simple enough, right?
To get us started how about if we deal with the most common negative emotion people are feeling right now and that is general anxiety. As you go through the script notice what other thoughts and emotions come up for you. What rings true? What may not? If you genuinely are suffering from anxiety you will feel something as you tap. Feel free to add different words and phrases that make your tapping experience personal to meet your needs.
Note: You can just read the words and not tap but you will, I guarantee, have a much different experience if you actually tap on the points as you read the script. So please don’t just read through the script. If you feel silly or self conscious then go into the bathroom for some privacy. No one is going to see you there or judge you. For now I’m not going to get into the science behind tapping. If it’s that important to you then you can research it on the internet. I know there are lots of people who need scientific confirmation, (that actually was me too) but for our purpose here just trust that when you actually tap on the points as you read the script will get a different experience.
Here we go! So start tapping on the karate chop point. (Refer to the chart above) Read this script as you tap on the various points.
Karate Chop (KC) Even though I am feeling super anxious right now and I want to run away and I feel stuck and overwhelmed, I completely love and accept myself regardless of how I feel.
Even though I can’t seem to shake off my anxiety I know at some level that what I’m feeling is normal and millions of people are feeling exactly the same and so I forgive myself for feeling so anxious.
Even though my anxiety makes me feel so out of control, I am going to choose to surrender to the fact that there is very little in the outside world that I can control right now and I can still feel ok anyway.
Now we start tapping on the various points as you read. Where there is a blank fill it in and make this script personal:
Round One:
Eyebrow (EB) This anxiety, this overwhelming, ever present anxiety.
Side of the eye (SE) Some days it completely consumes me.
Under the eye (UE) No matter what I do I can’t seem to shake it.
Under the nose (UN) It feeds on itself. The more I try to push it away the stronger it gets.
Chin (CH) Some days I don’t want to get out of bed but I have to. I’m getting really good at putting up a good front.
Collarbone (CB) But I’m such a fake. I know how to put on a good act.
Under arm (UA) I hold it together because I’m afraid of what it would feel like if I didn’t.
Top of the head (TH) But if people only knew what I was REALLY feeling, I’d lose it. I’d break down right in front of them and I can’t do that. People depend on me. They look up to me. They are counting on me. How long can I keep this up?
Round Two:
EB: The truth is what I’m feeling scares me to death.
SE: Something has taken root in me and has a power over me like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
UE: Well…then of course I’ve never felt anything like this before. If I really thought about it, who has? We’re all going through something no one has ever experienced before.
UN: What do I expect? I don’t have a game plan for dealing with this. But then who does?
CH: You know…just maybe I’m starting to realize that maybe I’m expecting way too much from myself.
CB: I’ve got to stop being so hard on myself. That’s only making it worse.
UE: I need to realize that what’s happening out there it not just affecting me. There is truth in the saying, “We’re all in this together.”
TH: As bad as I feel and as scared as I am, even though I allow myself to wallow in my aloneness, the truth is I’m not alone.
Round Three:
EB: What if I stopped focusing on my anxious feelings for just a moment and looked for things I to be grateful for?
SE: Let’s see….I have a warm bed to sleep in tonight. I have food in my belly. I have people who love me and I am safe. Not everyone in the world can say those things so in some ways I am blessed.
UE: Right here, right now there are many examples of how blessed I am. I need to stop focusing on the future. That just causes my anxiety to get worse.
UN: I don’t have a crystal ball. No one does. But it’s okay that I don’t know for sure what’s going to happen. I need to focus on what I DO KNOW and all the blessings I have in this moment.
CH: I know that _______________loves me.
CB: I know that _______________ is there for me and I can count on them.
UA: I know that I’ve gone through difficult times before and I was a stronger person for it.
TH: I know that with love and faith I can handle anything.
Round Four:
EB: Who knows? Maybe when we get through this experience something really amazing is going to come out of all this for me?
SE: One thing is for certain and that is change happens but change isn’t always bad.
UE: Maybe all this anxiety and fear I’m feeling is just a way to force me to face things I’ve been avoiding and trying to get me to change in positive ways.
UN: If I were to be honest with myself what am I REALLY afraid of? What can my anxiety teach me about myself? How can I look at this experience for what it is giving me and not what it is taking away?
CH: You never know, maybe when we get to the other side I’ll be stronger. I’ll have more clarity on what’s really important to me.
CB: It’s time to stop looking at my fear and anxiety as something to push away and instead look at it as a gift to teach me something valuable about myself.
UA: There are bound to be opportunities for some people that come out of this experience. Why can’t I be one of THOSE people?
TH: It doesn’t take that much effort to shift my perspective and have a different experience. What if I were ready to let go and let God? What if I was ready to go with the flow and see where it takes me? Wow! Wouldn’t that feel completely different?
So how do you feel? Did you feel any shifts? Any ahhas? Did any other thoughts or ideas come up for you that you could tap on by yourself?
What we are all experiencing is like nothing we’ve ever gone through before. The world is changing before our eyes and we’ve got to learn ways to adjust and adapt to those changes. As much as things are changing on the outside this experience is calling us to change and adapt on the inside as well. We can’t go on business as usual. None of us are going to be the same. But we have a choice in who we will become. We can take from these times the lessons and messages and gifts that it has to offer or we can resist and stay stuck in a negative state of existence. The choice is ours and ours alone.
Tapping is a tool you can use every day to help you bring to the surface the lessons and gifts and messages that are meant for you. Tapping can help you navigate through your day as your emotions come and go and shift and change. The bottom line is tapping can help you go with the flow as you let go of the crap you’ve been carrying around and replace that energy with more positive and higher frequency ways of being and living.
My hope here is that reading and tapping along today with this script has made a difference in your life, even if for just a few brief moments. At least that is a start and every journey begins with the first step.