Search results matching tag 'Limiting Beliefs'

Looking for financial independency: My inner child has confused gifts with love

UHU — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:13:30 GMT

Hello,

I am going through a very painful breakup. While very actively working on myself I feel stuck not wanting to go back to work and resume my normal daily life. It is even more difficult that I work at home so I do not have any peer pressure to get me going.

I have felt a bit concerned about this and decided to tap. I have discovered recently that I suffer from co-dependency and love addiction. I felt that my inability to resume work as before was not just depression caused by the break-up though so I tapped on

Even though, I don't know why I am having such a hard time getting back to work, I completely love and accept myself....

Very quickly I understood that as a little child the best moments I had with my parents was when I received gifts. I was very excited. I often exactly the gift I had expected. My parents put a lot of love and care in choosing presents for me and Christmas was always a night with no fights where at last I was the center of the attention.

Otherwise, my parents would scream and insult each other. They even got into fights while my mother was calling me to witness the scene. They were asking me to make up for their unhappy childhood and meet all of their different expectations which were more often than not totally incompatible and I just could not measure up. I felt really neglected, abandoned, more like a thing than a human being and very deprived of love and acknowledgement of who I was.

As a young adult I often put myself in situations where I would become financially dependant over and over. I too had very unrealistic expectations of myself, was a perfectionist and had delusions of grandeur without wanting to take the necessary steps. I was trying to prove to my parent my self worth by trying to achieve something impossible and always failed miserably. I guess it had the double hidden benefit of keeping my financially dependent and ridden in low self-esteem

I am really fed up with that situation that repeats itself over and over so I learnt EFT and started therapy to deal with that very subject. I had become partially financially dependent on my boyfriend as well and felt that I had an invisible maximum wage written down somewhere in my soul that said minimum wage accepted is just above the threshold of misery. My couple suffered from that a great deal when I was working more and more hours just to get the same amount of money at the end of the month. I accepted to be abused by my clients who asked for to many things they had not paid for....

Now I understand that my inner child confused Christmas, receiving gifts/money with being loved and being safe. My parents never screamed at me when they offered me gifts. I felt safe. It seems I want my inner child wants to go back to the safe and loving place of being taken care of. My adult self does not. It wants to be able to have enough wealth to make her own Christmas….

I really want to shift that belief (money/gifts= safety and love) so that I can achieve the wealth that is just dying to enter my life.

Please let me know if you have any insights on how to handle this.

Lots of love

Need help finding right setup...

Karla — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:32:40 GMT

I am a very well educated, creative and competent person. I've always got compliments about my work and performance, even when I was a kid at school. But... I feel I don't get what I "deserve"- like recognition in example. Usually other people use my ideas (and get promotions and/or recognition/better opportunities) so for me is like someone else is getting "the ultimate prize". So bottom line is- I am very capable of advancing in life but feel I am not getting the opportunities and it is really frustrating for me. It is affecting my self-confidence tremendously. Any ideas for setup sentences? I really appreciate your help!

PS- English is not my first language so I hope it is clear enough for you all to understand!

Re: 'Inheriting' parents' behaviors - Dr Bruce Lipton

Karen Nauman — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:04:15 GMT

Hi Evan,

GREAT question. A good place to start is by considering how this may have happened to us i.e. how we adopted traits/behaviors that we now find unpleasing or even offensive! :-(

I really like the work of Dr. Bruce Lipton. Here is an expert from an article of his (link below):

A child’s brain can download experiences at a super high rate of speed. From the moment a child is born through about the first six years of life she is in a super-learning state. Children learn and assimilate from how we treat them and how we respond to each other. We understand through hypnosis that you can download information into someone’s subconscious mind and bypass the conscious mind. Why is this relevant? Because between birth and age six, the child’s EEG brain activity is operating in a hypnotic trance state, so that whatever the child is learning is being downloaded into the subconscious mind.

The subconscious mind “records” and habitually plays back these programs. Think about all the rules of society, about every way we live, the nuances of our language. A three-year-old child can learn three different languages at the same time and not confuse their grammar, vocabulary or syntax. By age eight or nine just learning one new language is difficult. What is the difference? When the child is under six, the conscious mind is not developed so it does not interfere with the programming. Observed life experiences are directly downloaded into the subconscious mind. At this time, the child also develops an idea of self-identity and these programs play throughout life. http://www.brucelipton.com/article/the-wisdom-of-your-cells-part-3

(It is now knwon that we are being 'programmed'/affected by our environment, right from the day of conception.)

So, keeping this valuable information in mind. We would be benefit greatly by gaining a respect, compassion and understanding for this part of our self... the 'younger' us who was just trying to learn how to get on in the world. And to also consider shifting our perspective about our parents and/or primary caregivers such as; grandparents, older siblings, aunts, uncles etc. who were only teaching us what they thought was right, from their own childhood. Sometimes it takes a lot of tapping to really integrate/accept these concepts.

Gary's Palace of Possibilities is a good place to find more info. on this topic:

http://www.emofree.com/palaceof.htm

However, some folks may not be ready for this step i.e. 'the palace', until they've sufficient work/tapping on shifting the blocks or the foundation of what is holding them back... the disruptions in their energy system i.e. the unprocessed negative emotions and limiting beliefs.

I look forward to an interesting thread on this topic.

Thank you for starting it Evan! Karen

Re: One year balance; feeling worse! - How Can I... _______ ?

Karen Nauman — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:26:59 GMT

Hi Marie,

Thank you for sharing "How can I... _______ !"

After reading your post, I thought it would also make a great intake or 'off-the-cuff' question to ask an EFT tapping buddy, client or even our self. Although, it tends to be more difficult doing effective inquiry type tapping with ourselves.

Might say something like this; "Focus on/think about/plug into your issue/problem and then complete this statement... How Can I... _________ and say the first thing that comes up.

The response might have some great information/clues about why someone is stuck;

- How can I... push through this illness as fast as I can?

- How can I... get more energy to keep up with all of my obligations?

- How can I... figure out what's wrong with me?

Could even keep asking it over and over and see what shifts. Sometimes the most revealing stuff comes up when we are in the trance of repetition.

Or keep asking it in different ways i.e. Think about what else in your life is causing you stress or upset? And complete this sentence... How can I.... _________

I think it would bring to light 'sticky things and great tapping topics like, trying to fix or change someone else:

- How can I... get my husband to respect me?

- How can I... convince my daughter to dump her boyfriend?

- How can I... stop my 80 year old mother from complaining and being negative?

- How can I... keep my boss from intimidating me?

Thank you for posting this, Marie... excellent food for thought! Karen

Big Sneaky Block For All Of Us

ScientistGeorge — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:18:42 GMT

I've been struggling with this for a long time and just today got a great breakthrough understanding. Imagine someone sincerely wanting to help people and because they don't know the truth about psychotherapy they decide to spend about $200,000 and ten years to learn to be the best psychotherapist that they can be. What a waste! All because they bought into the lie that psychotherapy is the best or only way to help people with their stuck emotions.I can give more examples, but I think you can see that there are many untruths that people believe. We all have these things that we KNOW, but just aren’t so. We are riddled with them. These beliefs can be devastating! Many of these beliefs are rock solid. You can’t tell someone else that what they believe is not serving them because for them it is THE TRUTH! We can see this in other people, but generally not in ourselves. This makes it difficult to be specific as we don’t know exactly what to tap on. The beliefs that are almost universal in our environment are extremely difficult to change because “Everybody knows they are true.” So what can we do about it? How about some EFT?“Even though I have confusion and many harmful beliefs, I deeply …”Or “Even though many of my beliefs are off base, I send myself miracles and insights.”Or “Even though I have lots of destructive beliefs, I choose to become aware of and change the most important destructive beliefs.”

I’ve changed so many confused beliefs that I’m convinced that we could all do this daily or even many times a day. I suspect that as the undesirable beliefs get eliminated we will find our progress starts slowly and then picks up speed. Sort of like the tabletop and table legs analogy that Gary uses.

What do you think?

Re: EFT for Traffic jams?

Karen Nauman — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:07:54 GMT

Hi Carol,

You said; Was it EFT or was it just coincidence, who knows but will i be tapping next time I'm in a no hope situation you bet!

NOPE... NO COINCIDENCE! Your story really shows the power of EFT and the Law of Attraction or LOA!

When we have a negative attitude towards something i.e "blasted traffic jam - this really messes me up - darn thoes idiotic road racers, its their fault!" etc.... we get more of it, more waiting, moe delays, more traffic, more annoying honking and MORE FRUSTRATION or worse!

What you did was use EFT to improve your attitude and your vibration around being stuck. You were proactively soothing your self emotionally and thus raising your vibration or point of attraction. As you experienced, it paid off for you BIG TIME!

When we combine EFT and LOA, powerful things like this happen all the time and not just with things like traffic jams or finding parking spaces. We can totally change our health, finances, relationships and our life applying these methods!

One very important thing to remember though -- is not to get discouraged when change does not happen so quickly. It does not mean that the EFT/LOA is not working... it just means that we have a block or some resistance to what we are asking for.

You obviously didn't have any counter beliefs to getting out of the traffic jam. But some times we can have subconscious stuff going on behind the scenes when it comes to bigger things like; career, relationships, weight loss, anxiety, depression, illness, chronic debt etc.

In these more complex cases, this is where EFT really shines. It can help us remove limiting beliefs, subconscious saboteurs and energetic blocks to what we want to manifest in our life. So, if we are tapping and something isn't going our way then we can use EFT to help us discover and shift what belief or emotion might be blocking the path to our goal. Very powerful stuff!

Good for you Carol for applying and experiencing this in such a powerful way.

You are a true inspiration to us all!

Keep up the good work! Karen

Re: Releasing vows

Karen Nauman — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 11:57:06 GMT

Hi Evan,

It may be possible that there is one 'Mega' limiting belief or similar set of beliefs driving this whole thing. If this is so... then discovering that may help bring the whole house of cards down for you.

Think about some of the values or rules you adopted as a kid from your parents or as a result of the events that happened as a child.

These things could now be messing you up and would be false values or faulty rules. These are not serving you and can compete with new values and rules you have set for yourself. This will cause emotional tension or discord.

Some examples might be;

- You must always must keep your word

- You can't take back something you've said

- When you say something you have to stick to it

- You can't change your mind, even if you made

a decision under pressure... your word it your word

When you think about it, holding any of the above as a hard and fast rule could cause all kinds of emotional turmoil. Things change in our life but sometimes a subconscious part of us is still running on an old faulty program. It's like we need to clean off our internal hard drive!

If none of these statements ring a bell then just ponder this for a while and see if you can come up with some old values or rules that need revamping or dumping all together!

Try to recall any strong statements like these that you may have internalized and taken on... things that now go against other beliefs you hold now i.e. we are always changing, growing and learning new things.

If/when you discover something you think might be underneath this... tap on that. Do some back and forth conflict tapping i.e. Even though part of me believes this and another part wants to believe that. Plus some powerful choices statements... I choose to re-write my personal values/rules to suit my life as it is now - I've decided to let the old programming go around this - I am open to re-writing a new set of rules for myself etc.

Hope this gives you some ideas. Karen

Karen Nauman C.Ht., P.Nlp

http://www.tapintoeft.com/eft-scripts/

3 Powerful Statements for Abundance

dianamoore — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:27:18 GMT

Hi everyone,

After writing my experience with 3 powerful statements for weight loss and having so many people email me with their success stories, I thought I would like to share the following 3 powerful statements for Abundance.

The amazing feeling you have after doing these statements is fantastic.

The 3 statements are:

Even though I have NO CONTROL over my finances

Even though I have NO CONTROL over my success

Even though I have NO CONTROL over my life

This makes you feel so self empowered and suddenly you realise that you CAN have control over all of these things.

Almost instantly things start changing - probably due to the fact that you have, by just stating the above.

Now you are not waiting for the finances to come to you..you are not waiting for the success to come to you..you start intuitively doing things now you are in control of your own destiny by choosing specific paths to take you to where you want to be.

Use the above and they will work for you.

I wish you all the best.

Diana Moore

New Zealand

www.bowentherapy.homestead.com

The human brain and LOA and EFT - excellent article

philvt — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:14:34 GMT

The Human Brain and LOA By Laurel Cozzuli http://www.firstcausehelp.com/HumanBrainLOA.html

Does the Law of Attraction (LOA) work? Or is it just a ploy to push puffed-up media? Skeptics denounce the
teachings LOA at every turn, and LOA teachers are often referred to as “fast-talking salesmen,” “glorified
motivational speakers” and the like. Criticism notwithstanding, many persons have welcomed LOA teachings,
and have been able to successfully create joy, love, and abundance in their lives. Skeptics are quick to note
that these personal accounts are subjective in nature, so they do very little to authenticate a universal “law.”

Yet, pioneering brain research not only supports how LOA could actually work in relation to human brain make-
up, but also substantiates the inner workings of a brain in relation to human pattern recognition. This research
can explain, in scientific terms, why some people have a more difficult time than others when it comes to
engaging LOA. This research also holds some promise for perpetually “stuck” persons looking to banish
hopeless financial situations, relational ruin, or emotional turmoil.

LOA Has it’s Roots in Cognitive Therapy

Therapeutically speaking, LOA is considered a “cognitive therapy.” Cognitive therapists work with clients to
switch chronically negative, unsupportive thoughts (e.g., “I am ugly and fat,”) to happier, supportive thoughts
(e.g., “I appreciate the miracle of my body”). Studies by Mark George, MD and his colleagues of the
Neuroscience Institute found that joyful, loving thoughts actually calm the brain, whereas angry, negative
thoughts arouse the areas of the brain that induce depression and anxiety.

Cognitive therapies interact primarily with a human’s prefrontal cortex. A healthy prefrontal cortex has the
ability to “trump” our more primal human impulses, which originate in the brain’s amygdula, in order to help one
, for example, restrain from punching his/her boss in the jaw. However, those with a damaged or sluggish
prefrontal cortex usually execute very poor regulation of their emotional impulses. Yes, we all hear about those
disgruntled employees who do, indeed, clock their boss in the jaw. Such action is good for short-term stress
relief, but wreaks havoc on a person’s future.

The prefrontal cortex is responsible for the orchestration of thoughts and actions that correspond with a
person’s internal goals. (Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Can you say, “Law of Attraction” boys and girls?) What’s
more, a healthy prefrontal cortex has the ability to override emotionally driven behaviors that lead to impulsive
action, avoidance, and procrastination. A person with a sluggish prefrontal cortex will not be able to focus his
or her thoughts for any length of time. In the absence of external factors (e.g., an overzealous parent or a
prison warden) he or she will be unable to consistently initiate actions in support of future goals. Of course, all
of this translates into an impaired ability to engage LOA.

The Amygdula
The amygdula is an almond-shaped cluster existing just above the human’s brainstem. Acting as a storehouse
of emotional memory, the amygdula is often referred to as the human’s “old brain.” It dictates our “fight or
flight” response that helped our ancestors survive over the last million years, well before mankind’s brain
developed the cortex regions that create rational thought.
The Diagnostic And Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) lists over a dozen different
types of anxiety disorders. These include Agoraphobia, Panic Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder, among others. All anxiety disorders have
the common factor of a hyperactive amygdula.

People who have endured life-threatening circumstances may develop a hyperactive amygdula and can exhibit
intense “fight or flight” reactions well after the initial threat is gone. For example, a door slam down the hall or a
loud car motor will startle such individuals significantly more than it would a normal person.

The Brain’s Propensity Toward Pattern Recognition
Another point of consideration that relates to LOA is the brain’s propensity for pattern recognition. In a
groundbreaking 2002 article in Money magazine, Jason Zweig explains the role that different brain areas play
in our ability to execute sound money decisions. Generally, pattern recognition involves two areas of our brain:
the nucleus accumbens, and the anterior cingulate. These areas are responsible for humans viewing the world
in predictable patterns. Pattern recognition is what helped cave dwellers survive; “This plant is good to eat.”
“That land is the home of dangerous animals.” “These tracks are from an animal that I can kill and eat.” ”
Sunrise, light, sunset, dark, sunrise, light, sunset, dark…” This ability to recognize patterns is the very essence
of our survival as a human species and is “wired” into literally every sensory response we have.

Not surprisingly, past emotional trauma seems to be a factor in a person developing “runaway” or “hyper”
pattern recognition. A poorly functioning anterior cingulate and/or the nucleus accumbens leads to a person
having poor emotional regulation, with a host of dysfunctional behaviors to boot. What could very well have
helped the caveman survive is the same emotional-behavioral pattern that modern day doctors call Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. Even as early as 1995, the work of Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., shows that
persons suffering with PTSD produced brain scans with low activity in their anterior cingulate. This suggests
that the anterior cingulate is not allowing the right and left hemispheres of the brain to share information, as
this is one of the roles of this brain area.

In fact, from an archaic reference, the caveman with hyper pattern recognition was the one that survived the
arduous conditions of the time. A caveman who did not possess this ability might have ignorantly walked into a
dangerous animal den, for instance, even after a previous experience (such as watching a neighbor be killed
by the wild animal living in that den) had shown him that it was unsafe to do so. Of course, this caveman was
more prone to die off, thus did not contribute his slower-to-recognize-patterned brain to the gene pool.
Furthermore, the caveman’s average life span was 15; there was no need for long-term planning, so you could
say that our ancestry is “stacked against us.”

Failure to Evolve
People with hyper pattern recognition tendencies do not thrive well in today’s world. Such persons may be in
enormous debt and have a history of bad relationships. They are more likely to use drugs or alcohol in order
to quell anxiety and feed their need for instant gratification. They may have gambling or sex addictions, or be
hopelessly overweight due to an inability to control emotional eating (which is, again, governed by the decision-
making ability of the prefrontal cortex). Sadly, these patters are pervasive and endure even after years of
cognitive-behavioral interventions, including LOA. Furthermore, our survival instinct is intimately connected
with the same areas of the brain that generate extreme pleasure, the nucleus accumbens. The irony is that
LOA states that we want to “feel good” in order to send out the magnetic signal of happiness. What needs to
be teased out a bit more (for some) is the downside of living a life of instant gratification. This is one point of
skepticism of LOA that is well-taken.

So now we can understand the cyclical nature of so called “unsuccessful” persons who attract the same type of
dead-end job, marry another unsupportive or abusive spouse, etc… even though these qualities do not
contribute to a good life. LOA practitioners and counselors can stop shaking their heads, wondering why in the
world certain clients “just don’t get it” and why these “stuck” persons (who claim over and over again that they
really, really want to fix their life, and they are trying really hard to use LOA!) continue to make bad choices,
even after hours upon hours of intense LOA coaching. The problem lies within the structure of their brain that
simply “stalls out” upon the intake of new information, especially when the information does not fit their
experience of the world through vigilant pattern recognition.

In a nutshell, the person that has the most difficult time putting LOA into action is the one that 1) has a
hyperactive amygdula, 2) has a low functioning prefrontal cortex, 3) has impaired functioning in the anterior
cingulate, and 4) has a nucleus accumbens that is “running the show.” Persons with just one of these brain
problems will be more successful at implementing LOA than persons with two or more of these circumstances.
It stands to reason that a person with completely healthy brain functioning will experience the most success in
implementing LOA. This is because his/her prefrontal cortex can override panic responses of the amygdula.
He/she can visualize and consistently act upon goals, with little interference from the anterior cingulate or
nucleus accumbens.

Does this mean that people with less-than-ideal brain function are doomed for failure? Not necessarily.
Scientists and mental health professionals are incorporating therapeutic methods designed to enhance the
functioning of the human brain. Such interventions can assist clients in the ability to take action in support of
future goals.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing: EMDR
EMDR was serendipitously discovered by Dr. Francine Shapiro in the 1980’s while working with combat
veterans suffering with PTSD. EMDR is considered an integrative therapy and has proven superior to cognitive
therapies as it facilitates the actual processing of information that is “stuck” in various brain areas. (Shapiro,
2007) We mentioned earlier the work of Bessel van der Kolk who showed that persons suffering with PTSD
had brain scans with low activity in their brain’s anterior cingulate. After EMDR treatment, these same persons
produced SPECT scans with activity in the anterior cingulate, and subjects reported relief from PTSD
symptoms. (Symptoms include: hyper startle response, intense anger outbursts, insomnia, generalized anxiety,
and obsessively thinking about past traumatic events.) To learn more about EMDR, visit www.emdr.com.
Another site with a wealth of information is www.emdria.com, which is the EMDR international organization and
includes a list of certified EMDR therapists.

Neurofeedback
Another well-established therapy that can help “train” a brain is neurofeedback. Neurofeedback practitioners
assert that a brain can be “taught” through operant conditioning to normalize a myriad of dysfunctional
patterns that contribute to mental illness. Persons that develop anxiety disorders may actually have a
predisposition that makes them susceptible to such disorders. This can explain why some people develop
PTSD after the experience of emotional trauma and some people do not. “We see a lot of theta (brainwaves)
and cingulate problems in persons with PTSD,” says Bob Gurnee of the ADD Clinic, (formerly Scottsdale
Neurological Institute) in Scottsdale, Arizona. “It’s like they can’t turn off their brain.” Bob also explains that persons with PTSD live their past trauma over and over in their minds, because their inferior brain function keeps the information from processing correctly. “The brain pattern of PTSD is similar to Obsessive
Compulsive Disorder (OCD) where traditional therapy doesn’t seem to help,” Bob Gurnee explains. “Then the
client will try neurofeedback and the problem is corrected.” Perhaps the most encompassing website on this
intriguing therapy is the International Society for Neurofeedback and Research. You may also want to visit the
site of Daniel Amen, MD: This site delivers thousands of fascinating 3-D visuals of brain scans of various
conditions.

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)
One very effective method of quick stress reduction is EFT. EFT uses the gentle manipulation of acupressure
points, or meridians to calm the emotional body. This is done while focusing on a past traumatic experience or
negative symptomatology. With a person’s stress response quelled, the prefrontal cortex has a better shot at
overriding impulse-response and redirecting habitual behavior. Even better, EFT has proven to be an effective
treatment for overcoming procrastination, cravings, and unproductive behavior that leads to depression,
frustration, and perceived powerlessness.

And unlike other neuro-therapies that require highly trained practitioners, EFT is easily learned by anyone. Those new to EFT can download a free, simple EFT tutorial here. Additionally, practitioners and lay persons alike can download an easy “Using EFT to Optimize Your Brain” treatment plan here. You can also check out the official EFT website for an incredible amount of information on EFT.

With the emergence of such remarkable therapies like EMDR, neurofeedback, and EFT, can we not predict
that those extremely challenged with engaging LOA will be infused with new vitality and effectiveness? Of
course we can. As teachings of LOA gain momentum, it will be interesting to follow how such therapies impact
the ability of every person to engage LOA and create the lives of their dreams.

Laurel Cozzuli, MC, NCC, LAC email this author
Published: July, 2007

EFT and Brain Functions http://www.firstcausehelp.com/EFTbrain.html

In the pursuit of personal betterment, the mechanics of the human brain are often overlooked in favor of treating emotional issues. Yet a poorly functioning brain can mean pervasive behavior dysfunction, which translates into an enduring pattern of difficult life experiences. This is whether or not emotional relief has been attained through the use of EFT. Well-established neuro-pathways that have dictated a life of misery or disenchantment must be “rewired” before genuine change can take place and a life of abundance can be created.

In a nutshell, the person that has the most difficulty putting the Law of Attraction (LOA) into action is the one that 1) has a hyperactive amygdula, the human brain’s emotional “storehouse,” 2) has a low functioning prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for helping a person take action in accordance with goals, 3) has impaired functioning in the anterior cingulate, which is responsible for processing information between the right and left brain hemispheres, and 4) has an overactive nucleus accumbens, which is responsible for a human’s experience of extreme pleasure. An overactive nucleus accumbens is often seen in addictive behaviors.

The following treatment plan addresses the most common “trouble spots” in the human brain that lead to an impaired ability to engage LOA.

Even if you do not really understand all this “brain jargon,” going through this process will help you take substantial steps towards future goals and create a life of abundance and inner-peace. During these exercises, use the diagram below to assist you in visualizing the specific brain areas being treated. You may wish to print out this entire treatment plan before proceeding.

Happy Tapping!

Laurel Cozzuli

Your Amygdula

To calm a hyper-startle response (patterns of anger, automatically lying when confronted, intense anxiety or panic at the drop of a hat), EFT can be focused for treatment on your amygdula (uh-mig-duh-l uh).

Tap the karate chop point and then apply rounds of EFT for each of the following statements:

Even though my amygdula is hyper active…

Even though I have always allowed fear to run my life, I now choose peace and trust.

Even though my ancestors needed a hyper amygdula to survive, I now choose to release this pattern and evolve to higher thinking.

Even though my brain thinks I am still a caveman, I now allow my brain to “get with the times” so I can thrive in today’s world.

Even though my amygdula is on high alert, I now choose to stay calm and centered.

Even though I’m so grateful my amygdula has seen to mankind’s survival, I now evolve to a better way of life.

Now, tap the noted meridian points while repeating these positive statements:

EB: The world is a safe and beautiful place

SE: I’m so grateful that my amygdula is able to adjust to modern times

UE: My amygdula can discern real danger from false alarms

UN: My amygdula knows its place and surrenders to my prefrontal cortex

CH: I trust my amygdula to warn me when real danger is present

CB: I now allow my brain to evolve to higher functioning

UA: The world is a safe and beautiful place

TH: My amygdula is functioning perfectly

Your Prefrontal Cortex

To overcome habitual dysfunction (EX: procrastination, avoiding the bills/homework, overeating, careless sexual encounters or “blowing” your whole paycheck) we can use EFT to liven up a sluggish prefrontal cortex.

Tap the karate chop point and then apply rounds of EFT for each of the following statements.

Even though I can’t make productive decisions…

Even though my pre-frontal cortex is not doing its job, I send love and forgiveness to this part of my brain.

Even though I am such a disappointment to the world…

Even though, my sluggish prefrontal cortex has caused a life of disappointment and despair, I now allow its functioning to mature.

Even though my prefrontal cortex is trying to protect me by taking a back seat, I now allow it to sit in the driver’s seat.

Even though there is not enough blood flow to my prefrontal cortex…

Even though I can’t find the way…

Even though people think I am lazy…

Now use EFT to tap in these positive statements:

EB: My prefrontal cortex is functioning perfectly

SE: It is safe to put my attention on the future

UE: I easily follow through with productive decisions

UN: I send love and healing to my prefrontal cortex

CH: I have healthy activity in my prefrontal cortex

CB: I have optimum blood flow to my prefrontal cortex

UA: I love setting goals and accomplishing them through my own power.

TH: I am creating a happy and healthy future!

Your Anterior Cingulate

To normalize activity in your anterior cingulate, we will focus attention on your brain’s tendency towards pattern recognition.

Tap the karate chop point and then apply rounds of EFT for each of the following statements.

Even though my anterior cingulate refuses to process my past emotional trauma, I choose to trust and love myself anyways.

Even though I’m subconsciously scared that danger might return…

Even though, my anterior cingulate is going crazy with pattern recognition, I now allow my brain to evolve to today’s world

Even though, my anterior cingulate is keeping my right and left brain hemispheres from communicating… I totally and deeply love and accept myself

Even though, my impulses to stay “stuck” are really strong, I choose to release this old-brain pattern.

Even though I have created a lot of chaos from living a life this way, I lovingly release my need for instant gratification.

Now, tap in a few positive rounds focused on your anterior cingulate:

EB: My anterior cingulate is functioning optimally for today’s world

SE: I trust that all danger has past.

UE: I allow optimal activity in my anterior cingulate.

UN: I now awaken the neurons in my anterior cingulate.

CH: The right and left hemispheres of my brain are in perfect communication.

CB: I now see future rewards as more appealing than instant gratification.

UA: I love letting my prefrontal cortex take over to focus on future goals

TH: My anterior cingulate is functioning optimally for today’s world

Your Nucleus Accumbens

We can use similar techniques for the anterior cingulate to optimize your nucleus accumbens. Remember that the nucleus accumbens plays a significant role in rewards and pleasure. It is the area of the brain that can make overcoming addictions so challenging.

People can be addicted not only to substances, but to video games, surfing the internet, sex, chocolate, or even shopping. If a person allows this pleasure center to direct his or her life, there is positively no chance of creating a bright and glorious future. We can use the following EFT guide to quell a crazy nucleus accumbens, which, of course, will play a part of creating optimum brain function. And then we can truly enjoy those moments of chocolate, sex, shopping, etc … for the joy it brings, and not from a desperate, ineffective survival response.

Tap the karate chop point and then apply rounds of EFT for each of the following statements.

Even though my nucleus accumbens refuses to give up ______ (your addiction or compulsion)…I love and accept myself anyway

Even though, life will be boring without having this constant pleasure…

Even though, I am stuck in “here and now survival” by way of my nucleus accumbens, I now choose to create a productive future.

Even though my nucleus accumbens is not going to be happy about lowering its neuro-firing…I choose to lower them anyway

Even though I’m a slave to the experiences of pleasure generated by my nucleus accumbens…I choose to be free

Even though, my nucleus accumbens is stuck in survival mode, I now release this pattern and evolve into today’s world.

Even though, I desperately need my “fix,” I choose to enjoy life without this enslavement.

Even though, I fear deprivation…I choose to let that go and experience real love, joy and abundance

Now, tap in these following positive statements:

EB: My nucleus accumbens is relaxing.

SE: I appreciate my nucleus accumbens sweetening my life with pleasure.

UE: I easily derive pleasure from looking at my bright future.

UN: I am content to delay instant gratification in favor of my future goals.

CH: I am satisfied and relaxed at my core.

CB: I allow my nucleus accumbens to evolve into today’s world.

UA: My nucleus accumbens is my friend.

TH: We work together to create a happy life.

Enhancing Your Overall Brain Function

In the weeks and months to come, you can tap the following positive EFT statements for a generalized enhancement of your brain’s functioning:

EB: My brain is catching up with modern times.

SE: My brain is in perfect harmony with today’s world.

UE: I am the most reliable, honest person I know.

UN: I can count on myself to make healthy life-choices.

CH: I easily bring my actions into alignment with my goals.

CB: I have an internal locus of control.

UA: I am an inspiration to others looking to create a bright future.

TH: I continually amaze myself at my ability to act upon my future plans.

In addition to using this EFT plan for optimizing your brain’s function, integrate the following suggestions into your quest for creating happiness and abundance.

Listen to beautiful music. Music stimulates the pleasure areas of our brain in the same way sex, drugs, and chocolate do, but there are literally no negative repercussions!

Always remember this! If you are human, you have a prefrontal cortex. Period. This means that you can always choose to override unproductive habits that have previously dictated a dead end life. You can refuse the cigarettes. You can eat healthy and exercise. You can open your bills and PAY them before blowing your money. And you can absolutely stop yourself from thinking and doing things that hold you back. And then, you can CHOOSE a better way of life!

Engaging your prefrontal cortex on a daily basis will stimulate your brain for even bigger and better accomplishments. Start by setting a small daily goal, such as waking up 15 minutes earlier for a morning walk, or balancing your checkbook on a daily basis. Then prove to yourself that you can use your prefrontal cortex to follow through with this goal. Your future will thank you!

Choose happy thoughts. Use EFT to quell compulsive, negative thoughts which, as you now know, are a byproduct of our ancestral need for survival. Your prefrontal cortex has the power to choose joyful thoughts, no matter what may be going on around you.

Journal daily. Journaling stimulates our brain processing system so we can overcome past regrets, failures, angers and grief, and move towards enlightenment love, and joy. You can also use art therapy for the same purpose.

Learn something new! Learning a new skill can stimulate overall sluggish brain functions and infuse them with new vitality. Why not try your hand at juggling? Crafts? Planting a garden? Learning a foreign language? An exotic new recipe? Practicing a new sport? Even taking a tour at a local museum or local science fair can assist in waking up dormant brain areas.

Associate with happy, productive people as much as possible. If you are used to “getting wasted” with your friends every weekend, or have become disenchanted with you’re your perpetually negative spouse, moving on from this can be a scary supposition.

The mere thoughts of leaving a predictable life could send your amygdula into hyper mode and your anterior cingulate desperately tries to distract you with its affinity for predictable patterns. And since your ego sees these circumstances as part of your identity, letting go of these patterns are literally perceived as a survival threat. “What will the neighbors say?” can be just as threatening to your brain as a saber toothed tiger jumping out of the bushes. Again, the same principals of the above treatment plan apply. You can use EFT to distill fear of the unknown, fear of rejection, fear of judgment, fear of abandoning others. And then, for goodness sake, ENGAGE YOUR PREFRONTAL CORTEX to make choices in support of the brilliant future you deserve.

Take risks! Especially emotional risks. Call your estranged brother and tell him you love him. Hug your mom. Apologize. Own up to mistakes. Mend fences. Love the unlovable. Sing. Enroll in graduate school. In fact, get used to living life in the “unknown” for this is the only time humans are truly alive. And as you take these risks, bank on the fact that your prefrontal cortex has got your back.

Re: EFT and Sports Performance

Angelica — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 22:53:04 GMT

Just wanted to share an experience especially with nkp9999 and BPositive, where I used EFT on my own sports performance. I show horses, and have used EFT with really excellent results. I hope you'll forgive the long post, but it helps me when I read very specific descriptions from other people.

Because I don't get to ride and practice very often, mental training and EFT help me advance even with limited practice.

I was at a show recently and had a bad practice ride a few hours before my competition. My trainer gave me one of those very frank "coach" talks about what had gone wrong and what it would take to fix it. When I asked if there was anything I could do in my competition (it's called a "class", although it's the actual competition when you're being judged) he pretty much said, just hang on and try to get through it, we'll have to fix these problems later in practice. This is usually because when a horse goes into a class, he knows he's not likely to get corrected in front of the judge, and will often magnify whatever performance problems he had in the practice ring or indulge in any bad habits he's gotten away with in the ring before.

I went back to my hotel and spent an hour and a half doing EFT. I started by writing down all my negative or limiting beliefs. Before I started tapping, I tried to capture all the aspects that came up for me. Then I methodically tapped on them, one by one, and was careful not to switch aspects in the middle of working on one. Many were similar to Chris's list. They included such things as being nervous, worrying about what others were thinking, not wanting to let my coach down, feeling I didn't deserve to win, and feeling underprepared.

After I tapped on an item, I then tapped on a positive. I used ideas from Gary's Palace of Possibilities, such as, "I accept the possibility that I do deserve to win" or "I accept the possibility that this limiting belief is keeping me from reaching my peak performance." Then I included "I give myself permission to change."

As I finished a limiting belief, I physically crossed it off on the list, as a way to reinforce that I was done with it.

If I found an issue that caused a physical reaction in me, like tightening of the stomach, butterflies, or another manifestation of tension, I spent as much time on it as I needed to bring the level down as far as I could. On one particular statement I used 9 Gamut, collarbone breathing, and the eye roll and never got it to zero! But I got it to a manageable 1.

After I finished all my limiting statements, I surrogate tapped on my horse. I used statements that reflected what he was doing that might go wrong in the class, and finished with "I'm a good horse, I respect my rider, and I know my rider deeply and completely respects me." For human team sports surrogate tapping might be used on a team member.

Once I got to the show grounds and nerves kicked in, I either went off by myself to tap, or tapped my karate chop point as I felt the physical symptoms of nervousness. This kept my nerves down to very manageable level.

I rode into the ring and had a tremendous ride. It was the best ride my horse and I had ever had, and his responsiveness was impressive. We had none of the problems we'd had in my practice ride. I won the class, and also the championship class two days later. My trainer told me he knew the horse was in great show form but had not thought I could "get out of his way" and keep him there, and I had proven him wrong.

As reinforcement after my first ride, I went back and wrote down everything that was right about the ride. In preparing for my championship ride two days later, I used my list of positives and reinforced them with tapping, then I tapped on any nervousness that came up, such as the belief "I can't do it twice in a row" or "I choke when the big prize is on the line".

I also used a technique I'd read in Gary's newsletter, "I love that about myself", in which you begin with a negative, such as "Even though I sabotage myself when the big prize is on the line" then you inject something positive that you know to be true, like "I've succeeded under pressure at other horse shows" and add the positive affirmation "and I love that about myself" said with GREAT enthusiasm!

All of these techniques together were the recipe for success for me, and I hope they give you some ideas that you can adapt to your own sport.