As we move to the Winter Solstice, it's a perfect time to go deep and do some inner reflections about this past year.

Often this looks like New Years Resolutions - but really it's much more.

To start, let's look at 2008 and look at any challenging parts of the year that still need healing.

So when you reflect on 2008 both personally and as a world, what do you notice, what comes up for you as needing some loving relief?

Post them here and we can support each other in our tapping.

Hugs and love,

Deborah

Deborah,

Thanks so much for starting this thread.  We can do so much good for each other, if we connect and work together.

I definitely need relief on one issue that I've been working on myself, but not making a lot of progress.

At the end of October I retired from my career as a computer programmer/analyst.  I was very happy to be rid of the stress, the aggravation, the office politics and the unrealistic deadlines, but not so happy to have my income slashed by more than 50%.  Months before retirement, I started working toward my goal of becoming an EFT practitioner.  The biggest part of that work is behind me, but I now have a burning need to attract clients and build a solid client base, so that my income can start to edge back up again, and I won't have to worry about whether I'll soon be sharing the same meal as my cats. 

Today I found myself talking with my daughter and crying over my current finances.  Any tapping support on this issue would be much appreciated.

Pat

Deborah, That's a lovely idea!

Pat, (here's my ideas instead of offering to tap for you!) I wonder whether you are going at this with an employee mindset, while at the same time you're trying to strike out on your own (ie no employer directly above you) (but you're not managing to be effective enough).  Of course I may be picking on ideas you never meant, so just forget it, if so - but you said you are looking for a 'client base'. To me this brings to mind a pyramid, with Gary Craig or EFT at the top and you somewhere near the bottom and quite a few clients underneath you. A cursory reading of some stuff on emofree.com might give the impression that this might be Gary Craig's advice too for how to become an EFT practitioner. Yet it is not working for you (and many others) and the question is why not?

Firstly, I'd like to tell you that I really respect you. You're online tapping buddy program shows initiative, good ideas, caring, and love. Your posts are brimming with honesty and clarity.

Secondly, I think that pyramids have bad rap nowadays, because of pyramid schemes that seek to take advantage of people one is trying to sell the product to, convincing them that they too can get clients but really the product was rubbish or there is some other significant hitch.

Thirdly, that perhaps there is no such thing as healthy money making as part of a pyramid. We can support each other as part of a matrix, (as is being described in this and other threads currently). Matrixes seem to mean that one freely consults and helps one another. On the other hand, we seem to be each a separate individual when it comes to actual money making/money attracting. If we try to 'lean on' Gary, or on EFT, or on this forum, like a friend might lean on a more popular girl in the class to try to share the spotlight, then we are denying the real light that we each have within us, and possibly even preventing ourselves from actualizing that potential great light. Actually Gary himself is quite an example of this, as EFT is THE energy technique that one can learn about guilt free and money free on the internet, even if one can't afford the DVD's. There is a ton of respect to individuals whatever their confidence level or financial level given by Gary Craig and as shown by his generous and informative website. And I think that this is more the sort of model one needs to emulate in order to get yourself properly into the happy flow of energy work, including happiness and money. It's also the sort of model I see you tap into, with your beautiful tapping buddies idea! We need more of that!

I hope it's not sacreligious on this forum to add that it does not have to be just within EFT. Some people will choose to use a variety of energy techniques, including eg emotrance or psych-K or logosynthesis, or CST, as the combination is what really integrates into their personal personality and helps them become the Guiding Light of their dreams. You said your goal (gaol?) was to become an EFT practitioner, and I immediately wondered whether this might be unnecessarily limiting yourself.

Your light is great, and I hope it gets brighter all the time.

Rachel,

Thanks so much for your response, and for your kind words.  You have given me quite a bit to think about. 

Until you mentioned it, I never envisioned myself as part of a pyramid,  Actually, except for the bonds that I've formed here on the forums with all of you wonderful people, I kind of felt out there alone.  Friends can offer advice and guidance, but in the end, we're all on our own.  Everyone on the forums has such a totally unique presence (for lack of a better description), and in order to be my own person, I knew I had to find my own identity.  I think I've done that, but that hasn't made a difference in terms of clients and financial success.

I've tried very hard not to limit myself, and in addition to EFT, I'm certified in NLP and hypnosis, and will shortly be a certified holistic life coach.  All of those felt like pieces of my personal puzzle, so I incorporated them into the mix.  Again, it hasn't helped to attract clients.

It was really hard for me to post and say that my income was drastically slashed by my retirement, because that feels like failure.  (Yes, I know - tap!)  In the end, though, that was what was most important for me right now.  I'm scared (tap, tap, tap) of what my future will look like if I don't figure out what it is that I'm not doing, or not doing right. 

Pat

pattyann2264:

if I don't figure out what it is that I'm not doing, or not doing right. 

 

Pat, I hope this helps - you are not not doing or not doing something right. Everything you do is just right. What this speaks of to me is a lack of trust in your ability to find your way and faith in the universe to support you. 

Here's today's Abraham Hicks quote:

In your action, you lose sight of the vision, you lose sight of your trust in the process, and you just bang around in a sense of futility. Hold the vision and trust that the Universe will acclimate to your vision. Hold the vision and trust the process.

So, what affirmations are you using about your future and what feelings are conjured up by those visions? Then it's a case of looking at the tail enders and tapping them into transformation. I realise I'm making it sound all too easy here, and I know it doesn't seem at all easy from where you are now. 

This time last year, my husband and I had absolutely no income and were at max on our credit cards. We don't own our own home so couldn't raise any further funds, and I was needing to pay substantial fees to a solicitor to finalise my separation from my ex. We worked through Carol Look's book, and drilled deeper still, and I had the fortune to have an excellent coach who was just brilliant at spotting the tail enders that I couldn't see for being so up close and personal with them! We've just had the best year ever together, both of us doing what we love, and enjoying the money that's coming in this Christmas. 

We're intending to sit down together and look at our 2008 review together so I will be posting soon with some ideas that relate to Deborah's original post. But I've also realised just through writing this post, how much I have to be grateful for in the past year - gratitude is my latest project and something I'm learning to do so I hope you'll bear with me here :-)

As part of apreciating my abundance I've been willing to offer to support others in the same way that I was supported, so if you'd like to contact me via email we could look at what's needed. 

You give so much here, and your tappingbuddies site is an inspiration, and I'd like to say how grateful I am personally for your contributions which are always like a breath of fresh air because you are able to write so simply yet express so much in so few words (unlike me!)

with love

Marian

Marian,

You touched something deep within me with the words "Everything you do is just right".  Tears came to my eyes.  It made me realize how very long it's been since someone told me I was doing something right. 

Five years ago I had what I considered to be a dream job.  I had the best manager ever, and he appreciated me, trusted me, and totally empowered me to do whatever was necessary to get the job done.  I got promotions and raises and kudos and loved going into work each day.  Then, virtually overnight, my job turned into a nightmare.  My manager and many others were fired by a new CIO, who placed buddies of his into all the vacated jobs.  If you weren't one of his buddies, you didn't count.  Suddenly, I wasn't trusted, wasn't appreciated, and was completely disempowered.  It was absolutely horrible.  That's how I actually found EFT -- I tapped for stress and tension and fear and all the other garbage that job entailed.  I'm sure the job is what triggered my fibromyalgia.  As soon as I could, I retired.  I was afraid the job would kill me if I didn't.

Now, several months down the road from retirement, I am feeling SOOO much better physically and mentally, but your words, Marian, reminded me powerfully of how much confidence and self esteem I lost during those years of hell.  I can't really expect clients to have confidence in me if I don't have confidence in myself. 

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your offer of support, and I will be emailing you shortly.

Pat

P.S.  Could I really be the only one out here with a need for some community tapping?  Doesn't seem likely.....,

 Pat, thank you for your kind and appreciative words. This kind of sharing is what makes it all so worthwhile, the hours we all spend tapping away on our own, when we can offer a few words that mean so much to someone else. So thank you for providing me with the opportunity to help you, and anyone else who is reading here.

One thing leaped off the screen at me 

pattyann2264:

I can't really expect clients to have confidence in me if I don't have confidence in myself. 

Actually, people will have confidence in you because you have gone further than they have. You may have only been looking at others whom you think are much further along the road than you, but actually there are people who are looking at you in that way too, and these people are just waiting for you to welcome them as your clients. 

We all have to start somewhere, and if we waited until we had confidence, we'd never get going at all! And, of course, many of us didn't have the benefit of EFT when starting out as practitioners in some helping or healing field! So I hope you can tap on this and realise that you have already taken several steps down the road and that you have such a lot to offer to people who need to know what you have already discovered for yourself. They also need your compassion and understanding and especially your willingness to work with them and with yourself, to learn and to grow with them -  and they don't ever need you to feel confident about your skills. Can you be comfortable with not knowing how to help and with trusting EFT?

Yes, you may well have lost a lot of confidence which has caused you pain and hurt, and sometimes it is necessary to deconstruct in order to reconstruct stronger and better. I am sure you have what it takes to be an excellent practitioner, because I see you here being open about your need for help and addressing your own issues so diligently and persistently. That, to me, is the true mark of a great practitioner.

I promise I will post my need for community tapping later - I've just got a houseful of boys who all need feeding and beds making up so the time I had hoped to use has all been diverted into other necessary choices!

with love and appreciation

Marian

PS Hey, I'm really enjoying all these opportunities to practise gratitude today and it's helping me enormously.  Thank you to everyone

 Right, here goes. I've had some time to review and reflect on 2008 and it made me realise how much wonderful things have happened. The list of positives is far longer than the list of challenges, but you have asked for challenges that still need healing here, so that's what I'll do.

First and most important is my physical issues which are gall stones, achilles tendonitis, and a remaining freeze response which hampers my creative abilities and 'movement' in all senses of the word. The more tapping I've done this year, the more these physical ailments have shown up. They were not present at the beginning of the year, so I'm curious about what I've done to achieve this.....

Secondly and almost as important as my first point, my relationship with my eldest son (the one who has Aspergers). I took him out of school at Easter and we began the process of unschooling, which threw up so many challenges for me until I realised that I need to enter into his world and NOT keep trying to make him fit into "the world" or even "my world". My biggest difficulty is that he is incredibly angry, and for all sorts of reasons, not least that he feels powerless to do anything effective in the world because he is only (nearly) 13. His creativity is really blocked and I'm not sure how best to help him because his self esteem is so low that he finds it very difficult to try anything new or different.

Thirdly, I'd like some more connections with people on various levels. I;m not quite a "billy no mates" locally, but almost! Partly that's a factor of where I live which is beautiful and by the sea and an hour's drive from any cities. But it's also in large part due to me. I've done a lot of work this year that is beginning to show in some wonderful connections to people here on the forums and elsewhere in the EFT community, as well as some local home-educators, but if anything happened that meant I needed someone for something urgently, I have nobody. 

Fourthly, I'd like to see EFT making a bigger impact into education and welfare for kids, starting with understanding the importance of birth. I feel sure that there are ways to get EFT accepted and used without having to go head to head with education authorities and overstretched teachers, and under-resourced budgets! Our new generations of kids do so need this and schools are sadly letting our children down, and, worse, traumatizing many of them. Maybe it's not EFT going into schools that's neede, but a change in the parenting and teaching paradigms, and understanding of children and their needs. We all depend on this because they are our future.

Fifthly ....... I feel a need to add a humorous note, but nothing's coming to mind, so I'll just have to stop for now.

Thank you Deborah for bringing this important time of year to our awareness and for opening this wonderful opportunity for healing.

with love

Marian

Hi Deborah,

Thanks for your leadership on this post and in many other ways.  I certainly have benefitted from your community minded leadership in 2008 and I look forward to more collaboration with you in 2009.  

One of the things I'd like to put on the list is the number of EFT practitioners who choose to struggle alone.  As you and I both know, reaching out for help to clear the blocks getting in the way of a thriving practice is an essential part of most EFT practitioners' journey.  I have done it.  I believe you have done it.  Yet, so many of EFT's next generation leaders choose to struggle.  Alone.  And guess what they attract?  More struggle.  Eventually, many of these isolated practitioners give up.  It's a loss to the EFT community.  We need you!

I'd like to add the limiting belief of practitioners who feel like they can't get help to the great 2008 end year tapping rampage.  And, once again, I say thanks for being part of a team of practitioners who has supported my growth both personally and professionally in 2008.  It's been a great year.

With much love,

Paul

Paul, your post really resonated with me.

successfuleft:

One of the things I'd like to put on the list is the number of EFT practitioners who choose to struggle alone.  As you and I both know, reaching out for help to clear the blocks getting in the way of a thriving practice is an essential part of most EFT practitioners' journey.  I have done it.  I believe you have done it.  Yet, so many of EFT's next generation leaders choose to struggle.  Alone.  And guess what they attract?  More struggle.  Eventually, many of these isolated practitioners give up.  It's a loss to the EFT community.  We need you!

Personally, I’ve tried reaching out to those I’ve come to know on the forums, but it’s often hard to do.  Sometimes you don’t even know the questions to ask.  Sometimes you’re unsure of what is appropriate to ask for.  Sometimes you don’t feel a connection with someone you’d like to approach.  You’re unsure of yourself.  The list goes on and on, but I certainly understand why people get discouraged and quit.  There is so much to learn, and if others are getting their info the way I have, it's been here and there, in bits and pieces.  Back when I was trying to find a tapping buddy, and couldn’t, and I got the idea to put up the Tapping Buddies site, it was based on my experience, in that you can often help yourself by helping others.  I felt compelled to create that site, and am glad I did.

I now have a similar feeling about this.  Why couldn’t we give budding practitioners a place to go where they can get the answers to their questions, connect with others walking their walk, connect with more experienced practitioners, and get some of the guidance they so badly need?  Jan Luther and the EFT Masters have programs for this, but to play, you’ve gotta pay.  I can already envision this site as a place where there are plenty of free resources, but also a place where you could book a session with an experienced coach (you and others?), or take a class or series of classes at a lower cost than some of the other sites.  I see it as a one-stop EFT practitioner mentoring/coaching site.

I'd really like to hear your thoughts, and the thoughts of others, on this idea.

Pat

Hey Pat,

Thanks for sharing your vision.  I have been holding the intention of learning how to be increasingly helpful to budding practitioners for awhile now.  In 2008, myself and other experienced practitioners have worked to increase the availability of experienced practitioners on these forums.  As we have done so, each of our practices has grown.  And, we've had lots of fun.

In 2009, I hold the intention of continuing to be of service in this way.  A mentoring site?  A coaching program?  A series of classes?  These and many more are possible.  And, I believe it's very important for each of us who are interested in seeing this happen to move from a place of abundance rather than a place of scarity.  Repeat after me: "I have everything I need to get the support I need and deserve."

Thanks for resonating with the vision Pat.

With much love, 

Paul

Hi Pat and everyone, I started this post and then went awol -- sorry about that -- I'm just now catching up! I'll read through and then post again ..... Glad to see the conversation moving, Hugs and love to all, Deb.

Pat, Paul, Rachel and Marian, What a great series of posts ... thank you for sharing your hearts and insights with us .... It is amazing what a year can bring and I hold a very dear vision for each of us for next year. Like Marian, I keep shifting to gratitude .... it's such a strong vibration when I visit the forums .... Sorry this is short -- hugs and love to all, Deborah

successfuleft:

Repeat after me: "I have everything I need to get the support I need and deserve."

Excellent Paul ... I used a similar affirmation for both my personal and professional development as well as my children's unschooling. And now I have an amazing connection of friends, colleagues and support for my children. So Pat, it's very possible ..... I'm a huge fan of vision boards or dreaming or even goal setting ... so in our contrast of what's been hard about 2008, we can get clearer about the dreams and desires calling us. For me: I see myself being able to run again. (like Marian, I have achilles tendinitis that Chip is helping me with) I see myself exponentially growing my tribe - offering rich, compassionate information and wisdom that truly changes the world. I see myself in harmonic balance with my husband and children. I see my friendships deepening and being a pure delight. I see my martial arts skills increasing more and more. I see my children nurtured and supported by their environment with active and varied interests. What about yours? What calls you for 2009?

Deborah,

Thank you for opening this up, and for all that you have done this year for and with the eft community. I appreciate the light that you are.

Pat, thank you for your honesty. Look at the bigger picture, and how you imagine yourself playing in the world. Piggybacking on to what Rachel said:

You said your goal (gaol?) was to become an EFT practitioner, and I immediately wondered whether this might be unnecessarily limiting yourself.

You might want to look at your niche--instead of your tools like EFT--how is it that you want to help? What area?

Back to reflecting on 2008 for myself:

A little over a year ago I created a visual, a painting that I put on my ceiling above my bed so I could look at it upon waking up in the morning, and before falling asleep at night. I painted "I AM" in large thin letters, and in very small letters within the "A" I wrote/drew Science of Mind Practitioner and  EFT Master, and the "M" I wrote author and teacher. This year, I got licensed as a Science of Mind practitioner (I was licensed in the 80s). I retired from being a public school teacher in 2006. This year, I realized that I had some unresolved grief about not being a teacher. I tapped on it and then realized that I could teach the rest of my life. However, that I was on my own (not an employee of a school district)... Actually, the last three years, I have been teaching one and two hour EFT classes with groups. This year, I taught an all day Level 1--and followed Gary Craig;s guidelines; used a powerpoint; and successfully taught an all-day class. There was a part of me that didn't think I could do it AND I did!!!! This year, I also came up with my own I Love My Body Classes for women in my community. Just this week I registered ILoveMyBodyClub.com. I did one teleclass and learned a lot. In 2009, I plan on expanding on teaching women how to lose weight and love their bodies--teleclasses. I am excited, and open to how that is going to manifest!

Being part of this forum, has helped me as an author. Let me tell you that writing has not been my thing. I had a story that said that I couldn't write. Well, my husband, Steve Ryals (author of Drunk with Wonder: Awakening to the Light Within) has encouraged me as a writer, reminding me to write (and exercise my writing muscle), and sometimes helping with editing articles for me. In 2008, I have written a lot!!!!!!! I am a WRITER. I don't believe that old story that I believed for 5 decades. It is no longer my truth. My book, Everyday Miracles, is coming right along. The writing is mostly finished and I'll be getting into the editing and pre-production phase after the holidays. 

In 2008, I have learned to trust my intuition even more by learning that I can tap into IT and not even talk to the person--by email!!! OMG, a couple of years ago, it was hard to believe that I could do EFT over the phone successfully--and I found that I could. Being part of this forum has given me the opportunity to TAP deep into my inner wisdom--it is so cool!!!! 

I have used EFT for lots of different issues. In 2008, I have lost 30 pounds using EFT. I have helped LOTS of people--lots of miracles.

However, there has been an issue, that is kind of like the elephant in the living room. MONEY. I have struggled with money most of my life. In 2009, I choose to let go of the struggle, and open to abundance in my life. I choose to let go of my old stories that no longer serve me about poverty, lack, fear of not having enough, etc. Even though, mass consciousness says there is a recession going on, ABUNDANCE is flowing my way, and I am having lots of fun being creative with EFT and helping others (and being compensating well for it).

Paul, I love your enthusiasm for community. Thank you for being an inspiration. I hope to play a lot more with you and the EFT community in 2009.

Love and Light,

JoAnn