Sometimes all we need to do to begin moving forward is to name our goals. By knowing what we want to achieve we can begin to see the path towards it, and if we tap while naming our goals, we can start to clear the resistance to them. It is a great way to start your day or week!
Archives for October 2011
TapAlong #16A Dealing With Shame And Blame For Past Choices
Shame is an interesting emotion. It makes us recoil inside ourselves, wanting us to hide from our past and our present. Despite this negativity, shame is rooted in a good place because it wants us to have done better, and wants us to do better in the future. The problem is that it prevents us from moving forward because it is trying to keep us safe from repeating our mistakes. Because of this we can feel crippled by shame, but we don’t have to remain stuck in that place.
Tapping To The Lessons I Learned While Tapping
photo by Stephan Reinwald |
When I am tapping I like to write down the insights I have while tapping. Sometimes they are things I already know (and have known forever) and other times they are completely new insights. I might only get one or two of these insights when I sit down to tap, but when I collect them over time I end up with a lots of wisdom that I need to hear.
Here is a list of the some of the insights I have had recently while tapping. Every now and then I like to come back and tap to them.
PS: This is also a great way to end a tapping session. Just state what you have learned to reinforce the learning and the change.
- Accountability structures are good for my progress.
- I have more needs than I care to admit.
- If I do work every day (or regularly) progress is inevitable.
- It is time to heal.
- I am really ready to heal.
- Sometimes when things don’t work out we find new and better things.
- Some issues and tasks are made harder by avoiding them.
- Even if people who are close to me don’t appreciate the work I am doing, it can and will be appreciated in other places by other people.
- I know lots of things that are good for me even if I am not willing to admit it in my conscious mind.
- I need to take care of myself because I will receive the best care this way as I am the only one who has taking care of me as a responsibility. I can (and should) ask for help, but I am responsible for this work.
- It is time to let others take responsibility for themselves. This is not longer my job.
- It is good (and serves others) when I follow my dreams.
- It is hard for people who are wounded for them not to act out of their wound.
- I can’t assume I understand what really happened or what others really think.
- I can’t assume others understand me.
- I need to examine how I see myself.
- My patterns are easy to change when I take the time to look at and understand them.
- I am better at what I do than I give myself credit for.
- Doing work is better than not doing work.
- One easy change I can make is to work on change every day.
- Physical health can be improved with lots of small choices and it doesn’t have to be about massive workout routines.
- It is good I am making this change now.
- I don’t have to do everything in my life alone to move forward. There are lots of people I can partner with.
- Just because I have been stuck for a very long time doesn’t mean I have to stay stuck in the future.
- I am open to change happening in a way that is unexpected and surprisingly easy.
- When I give myself the benefit of the doubt it is easier to give others the benefit of the doubt.
- Sometimes the hardest person to love is myself.
- Wanting the best for others is not about wanting less for me.
- Wanting the best for others is not about fixing them.
- Desire isn’t bad because it is motivation to doing more, trying more, and being focused.
- My complete focus on one outcome can lead me to miss other, better outcomes.
Click here to read what others have to say or add your own thoughts and comments. I would really love to hear what you think!
Deserve v. Worthy
photo by Annette Pedrosian |
[In this series we examine the importance of the words we use and how changing our vocabulary can change our mind giving us opportunity for transformation. More articles can be found in this series @ Tools:Words]
“I don’t deserve better…”
One of the phrases I hear frequently from clients is “I don’t deserve…” This phrase comes is all shapes and forms.
- I haven’t done enough in the past to heal. I don’t deserve to get better now.
- I have screwed up so many times. I don’t deserve God’s love.
- I have so much in my life compared to others. I don’t deserve to more.
- I have had success in the past and squandered it. I don’t deserve to have success now.
When we are in the mindset of “don’t deserve” it is very difficult for us to experience transformation and healing. There are a number of reasons for this, but mostly it comes down to the fact that when we don’t feel we deserve to heal then we are not going to put the effort or take the steps necessary for transformation. If we don’t do the work we are unlikely to heal.
Whenever I encounter a client who doesn’t believe they deserve something I like to draw a contrast between the words deserve and worthy. In my mind deserve means to earn something while worthy means being made for something. Here is an example to make it clearer.
I work with a number of clients in a spiritual context. Very often my clients feel they “do not deserve God’s love”. They believe they are not good enough, they have made too many wrong choices, or that it is just too late for them.
By using the phrase “I don’t deserve God’s love” they are saying (most time without thinking about it) that God’s love is something they must earned. The only way that God will love them is if they live a certain way, make certain choices, or achieve certain goals. If they are incapable of living in this way then God is not going to love them.
When I encounter this I encourage my clients to reframe this understanding to they are “worthy of God’s love”. God’s love is no longer a prize or a reward, but instead something that we are made for. God’s love is an intrinsic characteristic of who we are. This simple shift moves us from earning God’s love to giving ourselves permission to allow God’s ever present love into our life.
A sample tapping patter for this might look like:
Right now I am having a very hard time…I am struggling…but I choose to know that God loves me no matter what…His love is unconditional…There is nothing I can do to earn his love…Or lose his love…there are times like right now when I don’t believe I deserve God’s love…There are times when I beat myself up because I am letting God down…I choose to know that God wants nothing more than my healing to happen…God wants me to see myself with the same love that he has for me…I give myself permission to know God still loves me…I give myself permission to believe I deserve God’s love, even when I have a hard time loving myself…
This same approach can be used when we are working with issues of healing, weight release, success, and abundance just to name a few. We are made for health, well-being, and success. It is our intrinsic nature. When we are able to accept this fact we eliminate many of the self sabotaging behaviors because we are no longer fighting part of our self that don’t believe it is something we deserve.
If you hear yourself saying or thinking “I don’t deserve X…” tap on the phrase “I am worthy of X and I give myself permission to allow X into my life.”
Click here to read what others have to say or add your own thoughts and comments. I would really love to hear what you thing!
TapAlong #15A Accepting Compliments
One of the things I have struggled with over the years is accepting compliments. They made me feel uncomfortable. They made me feel judged. They made me feel like I needed to point out the things that were wrong with me. Over time I have learned that it is OK to take a compliment. It gives me a chance to recognize that I am good at something and that others also see the things I do well.
Tapping To Beauty To Open Your Heart
The key to a successful tapping/Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) session is to find a way to tune into an emotion. It doesn’t matter how we find our way to that emotion. We can do it by saying phrases, retelling stories from the past, or just tuning into how a physical sensation feels in the body. The key is our focus and attention.
The world we live in is full of amazingly beautiful things. Many of them we miss (or at least I miss) because we are wrapped up in our ‘to do’ list. When we take the time to look at beauty, bathe in beauty, and absorb beauty, it touches us and tunes us into our emotional core.
Take 4 minutes to watch this amazing video my friend Sue passed along to me. As you do it, just tap. It is not about clearing up an issue or working through some piece of resistance. It is simply about being in touch with beauty…which is healing.
Click here to read what others have to say or add your own thoughts and comments. I would really love to hear what you think!
Tapping For Inspiration & Creativity By Steve Jobs
This article was written while being powered by an American with vanilla bought by Mrs S B Bridgeford of Dorset, UK.
photo by Apple |
As I am sure you are aware last week Steve Jobs died. He was a galvanizing figure to say the least. He was a thought leader and he demanded a lot of himself (and of his employees). I always enjoyed his interviews and speeches because there always included wonderful nuggets of hope, inspiration and challenge. Here are some of my favorite Steve Jobs quotes.
Are you looking for a great way to start off your day on a creative, inspired foot? Then read through these quotes as you tap along.
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward. Maybe they have to be crazy. How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels? While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”— Apple Commercial, 1997
“… You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” – Stanford University commencement address, June 2005
“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful…that’s what matters to me.” – Wall Street Journal 1993
“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” – Stanford University commencement address, June 2005
“There’s an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. ‘I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.’ And we’ve always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very very beginning. And we always will.”
“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”
“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.”
“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.” – Fortune
“I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.” – Businessweek
“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”
“I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.” – Stanford University commencement address, June 2005
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” – Stanford University commencement address, June 2005
Click here to read what others have to say or add your own thoughts and comments. I would really love to hear what you think!
Tapping To Lift Your Spirits – (This Will Make You Laugh & Make You Feel Better
I came across this video at kottke.org. Tho post simple read: “Two minutes of laughing. If this doesn’t make you smile, YOU’RE A MONSTER!”.
To put yourself in a good mode just hit play and tap (or just hit play). You will smile!
LAUGHS! from Everynone on Vimeo.
Click here to read what others have to say or add your own thoughts and comments. I would really love to hear what you thing!
TapAlong #14A: Taking Risks
“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” – Pablo Picasso
Trying new things can be hard. It requires us to put ourselves at risk. It requires us to face the fact that we don’t know everything. We know intellectually that there are many things we have tried in the past that we didn’t know how to do. Some of them worked out right away while others took time for us to learn. When we recognize that it is OK for us to try new things and that it is OK to not be perfect during the learning process it makes it easier for us to venture out of our comfort zone.