I heard my wife, Shioe, shouting in the other room.
My wife, a quiet, soft spoken lady at all times, never shouts, so this was a curious event. I stepped across the hall into her office to find out more.
She was just hanging up the phone as I entered, and she was pale and visibly shaking.
Before I could ask what was wrong, she volunteered, "That was Mr. Kato. He asked me to speak at an international conference this Saturday (four days away), and there'll be over 300 people from all over the world at that thing. I can't refuse him, but what do I do? I'm petrified. Oh, and the speech has to be in English."
"Well," I offered, "You know that new technique I mentioned the other day? You want to try it?"
That "new technique" is EFT, a method for using the Chinese accupressure points to mechanically rearrange the body's energy pathways and remove "crossed wires." It literally removes the energy from fears.
If you're not familiar with ancient medical practices, you may not have heard about accupressure or accupuncture points. If not, the previous paragraph may sound like so much gibberish. But even if you HAVE heard of them, this latest technique may be seriously pushing the limits of what you're willing to accept.
But back to my story.
I offered to show Shioe the dozen or so points to tap. Yes, tap. No needles, no massaging, just tapping six or seven times on each of a series of points in a certain sequence.
I took her through the one-minute routine two times, and within those two minutes, her breathing slowed, her color returned to normal, and the shaking in her legs disappeared. I asked her how she felt now about speaking at the conference.
"I've got a lot of practicing to do. I'd better get busy."
No more paralysis. No more terror. Only a matter-of-fact eagerness to get started.
And smiles. She was perfectly comfortable with an idea that, minutes earlier, had had her shaking in her socks.
Later I went into her office and found her tapping "to reinforce it, just in case." But still no fear.
That was unarguable proof to me. For as long as I've known Shioe, she has had a STRONG reluctance to speak before a group - any group.
She has done brief speeches in the past, for very small groups of eight or ten, and those were traumatic enough. But this was an international conference on North Korean Refugees to be held in Tokyo, and there would be journalists and representatives from all over the world in attendance.
Then about five days later, while Shioe was away in Tokyo, I received an email from an aunt regarding the antics of a relative of mine. Every time this particular relative decides to "act up," I react by getting angry, frustrated and hyper. It's a long-standing reaction of mine.
At the height of my frustration, I sat down, did a quick round of tapping, and suddenly, in the middle of it, between one breath and the next, I went from major upset to delighted laughter. And I haven't been upset since.
Within seconds I found that I'd gained instant perspective. Now I simply can't quite remember why I was ever so upset. Oh, I still care what happens, and I want the best for that relative, but I'm not immobilized by my reaction to their escapades now. What a marvelous gift.
So what the heck IS this EFT?
Some readers may have already heard of it. But if you haven't, here's a quick backgrounder.
EFT, taught by Gary Craig, gives you a sequence of 12 pressure points (5 on the face, 2 on the body, and 5 on the hand) that can clear away any unresolved tensions connected with particular experiences or fears from your past.
There's also a 13th point on the back of the hand, but it's used between rounds of tapping to balance and engage all the brain's "circuits" equally in the sorting-out process.
If you'd like to get more details, you can find a free 80-page PDF manual at http://www.emofree.com/freestuff.htm.
This manual will give you full instructions and everything you need to start defusing your own fears, phobias and challenges. You'll also find dozens and dozens of case histories there. These case histories outline in graphic form many of the things EFT has already been used for.
They range from a fear of heights to Vietnam vets with long-standing post traumatic stress disorder.
EFT was developed by Gary Craig from earlier work done by Dr. Roger Callahan.
Dr. Callahan, a psychologist with over 40 years of experience, accidentally discovered that tapping on certain accupoints would painlessly and almost instantly remove phobic fears. He developed this into a system he calls TFT -Thought Field Therapy.
EFT is a simplified version that appears to be fully as effective as TFT, but does not require complex application strategies.
EFT simply has you tap on all the pressure points in sequence, rather than trying to determine which ones require the treatment. It takes a few seconds longer to do a full round of tapping, but hey, the long version only takes a minute in total, so why not do 'em all?
But the title of this article mentions stopping self sabotage. What about that?
One of the most important discoveries by Dr. Callahan was what he calls "psychological reversal."
He found that the energy flowing through the body's energy "meridians" can become reversed, as though your batteries had been put in backwards. The worst part? You can't feel whether you're reversed or not.
If you're familiar with muscle testing or kinesiology, you probably already know about this.
When you're psychologically reversed, it does no good to do affirmations.
You say over and over, "I'm getting richer and richer," and what happens is the reverse. All that energy you're feeding into your positive thoughts gets short-circuited into negative results - your batteries are in backwards, remember? Then you end up unwittingly sabotaging all your own best intentions. You don't follow through on things you fully intended to do. You shoot yourself in the foot over and over.
I guess nearly everybody has experienced this. I certainly have. But I never knew WHY it happened. For the longest time I thought there was just something defective with me.
Now I know what causes that to happen.
Even better, thanks to EFT, I also know how to correct it.
There are two spots on your chest and two spots on your hands that you can tap, and if your energy is reversed, they will un-reverse it. (But if you're NOT reversed, tapping them does no harm.)
Un-reversing your energy before you start your inner work will let your energy be directed where you really want it to go
This un-reversing may last for anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour, but during that time, you can safely and effectively do your affirmations, meditations, or self-hypnosis suggestions. Or your EFT tapping.
Nobody is quite sure why some people get this reversal more frequently than others, but it IS recognized that some are more prone to it.
This tendency to reverse polarity doesn't really matter now, however, because once you tap to un-reverse, your inner work will be fully effective.
Even better, if you'll consistently un-reverse your polarity a few times a day (no need to get compulsive about it, though), sooner or later your body will catch on to this new pattern and begin staying un-reversed for longer and longer periods.
Here's how you do it.
Use any one of the four points:
* The "karate chop point" on the side of either hand
* The "sore spot" on either side of the upper chest
about 3 to 6 inches (7-15cm) above the nipple
If you use the karate-chop point, tap rather briskly (but never hard enough to hurt) using the first two fingers of the other hand (about 3-4 beats per second) and say:
"Even though I have this (problem, pain or difficulty),
I fully and completely accept myself."
Do that three times in succession, and put some real expression into your statement. Using firm statements is more effective than a flat, emotionless statement.
If you use the "sore spot," you'll rub it round and round rather than tap, but otherwise, the routine is the same.
That's it. Do it three times, then you're ready to do whatever inner work you prefer.
And you'll be putting your energy into the positive aspect of your project. Gone will be the unwitting self sabotage that you've been getting in the past.
How do I know most people have this experience of self sabotage? That's easy. The rare person who never experiences this reversal is accustomed to having things go right for them all the time.
They are so familiar with everything working right, always following through properly, always doing exactly what they intended to do, that they never feel the need to read self-help books, listen to tapes or read newsletters like this. With everything working fine, what is there to fix?
But for all the rest of us mere mortals, this technique is something we've been seeking for years. It gives us a more level playing field in the game of life, and it answers that old question: "What made me DO that?"
Will one or two rounds of EFT instantly clear away every problem, every time? No, it won't. Not every time.
Here's why. Sometimes a problem comes in several pieces. Take my wife's fear of speaking in public, for example. It turned out to be a one-piece fear, and she rid herself of it quickly and easily.
Sometimes, however, that fear may have several aspects. I might be afraid of the idea of speaking in public. I get rid of that, then I find that I'm also afraid of all those eyes looking at me. I do another couple of rounds to get rid of that, and then I discover that I'm also afraid of people laughing at me. I might find lots of different aspects or pieces involved in what I originally thought was one seamless fear.
When that happens, the simple, logical thing to do is just keep knocking them down. Sooner or later, I'll get through all those different aspects of my fear, and then I'll be totally free. No more fear.
Will it stay fixed? In most cases, yes. It lasts.
Now, most people, even if they have several aspects to their problem, don't have more than a handful or so. In some cases, there might be 10 or 12 different pieces. Okay, so it takes more than two minutes to resolve a lifelong fear. Maybe it takes 15 or 20 minutes. Or you might have to work on things for several sessions. So what?
Contrast that with the number of sessions typically involved with traditional therapy.
So what's to lose? Nothing but a little time and effort.
And your fears.
Best of all, this is self-help at its best because you can do it for yourself.
However, you may not be quite sure how to get yourself started. You may feel the need to get help from someone who already knows their way around EFT. If so, go to: {http://www.emofree.com/Practitioners/referralMain.asp}.
There, you'll find links to hundreds of practitioners in 40-some states of the US and in 27 countries around the world.
Can't find a practitioner in your city? No problem. EFT can be done via telephone, so you can easily work with somebody hundreds of miles away, or even in a different country. Distance is absolutely no limitation with EFT.
If you feel like you'd rather start off with someone you already know, I can accept a few phone sessions, but remember, you'd be calling me in Japan. If that's agreeable, drop me an email. I'll be happy to discuss your particular situation with you and settle on a mutually convenient time and other details.
Oh, and my wife's speech?
She tells me it couldn't have gone more smoothly. She flew up to Tokyo, as scheduled, and give her presentation to those 300 people from Europe, the US and Asia. And she never felt a flutter. For the first time in her life, she said she felt absolutely confident while giving a presentation. Total triumph.
Ready for some of that in your own life?
Cheers from sunny Japan,
Charles
~~ CharlesBurke.com ~~
Charles Burke is the author of Command More Luck, the book that shows you why all those things keep happening to you. Learn why "luck" doesn't work anything like the way you've always been told.
The bad news - there's no such thing as luck. The good news - there's something even better. Go to http://www.moreluck.com and learn how you can take command of what people call luck. Start today.
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