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From the archived Rick and Carol EFT podcast series. The series is complete.
Episode #28 – Overwhelm!
Too many emails! Too many things to do! Too many choices! Too little clarity! You might even say overwhelm can make us stupid!
In this episode, listen and tap along as Carol and Rick explore how overwhelm obscures clarity and how tapping helps to put us in a more resourceful vibration.
- Getting clear on the next 30 seconds.
- Tapping: I don’t know where to start.
- Aligning head, heart, gut, and groin.
- Tap on the collarbone.
- Loosen up the energy a bit.
- Vibrational self-awareness.
- Overwhelm as a signal to go deeper for your clarity.
For more support with clutter and clarity, explore Clearing Clutter from the Inside Out.
Companion Guide
Overwhelm is what happens when too many demands arrive at once and all insist they are first. In that state, the mind loses access to some of its best sorting and problem-solving. Decisions made from overwhelm can create still more overwhelm.
The way out is rarely to solve the entire pile. Begin by reducing the input and returning to the next thirty seconds.
This Guide Helps With
- too many tasks, messages, choices, or emotions at once
- feeling foggy, blocked, or unable to decide
- shame about not being clear or productive
- finding a first step without organizing your whole life
- using overwhelm as feedback about a deeper need or limit
Name the State Before Solving It
Overwhelm often removes the very resource that might help: you may not remember to tap, pause, drink water, or ask for help because every signal is competing for attention.
Start globally if that is all you can do: “I am overwhelmed. I do not know where to start.” You do not need the perfect target. Honest contact can loosen the swirl enough for one thread to become visible.
If words are too much, tap gently on the collarbone and breathe. Let the body know that no complete life plan is required in this minute.
Return to the Next 30 Seconds
Ask only:
- Do I need to stand up, sit down, eat, drink, or breathe?
- Is anything truly urgent in the next thirty seconds?
- What input can I silence or put out of view?
- What is one action—or intentional non-action—that would reduce pressure?
Doing nothing for thirty seconds is still a choice. It can be the pause that prevents another commitment made from a foggy state.
Overwhelm Is Feedback
Once you are steadier, ask what the overwhelm is showing you. It may point to difficulty saying no, unrealistic scheduling, a new level of responsibility, relationship stress, unprocessed emotion, missing support, or a task that is not ripe yet.
Overwhelm does not mean you are stupid. It means your present inputs exceed your current capacity to sort them. Capacity can return, and the system may need a boundary or structural change before it does.
Tapping: I Do Not Know Where to Start
Side of the Hand: Even though I am completely overwhelmed, with too much to do and too many decisions, I choose to feel a little calmer.
Even though I do not know what to do next, I accept that this is where I am.
Even though I feel foggy and cannot focus, I choose to slow down just a little bit.
Top of the Head: I am so overwhelmed.
Eyebrow: I do not even know what to do.
Side of the Eye: And that makes me more overwhelmed.
Under the Eye: What if I do nothing for thirty seconds?
Under the Nose: Part of me is ashamed of that.
Chin: I should be clear, but I am not.
Collarbone: What if that is okay for this moment?
Under the Arm: I can accept where I am.
Top of the Head: I am asking for a little clarity.
Eyebrow: I do not have to do anything big.
Side of the Eye: One next movement is enough.
Under the Eye: Some decisions are not ripe yet.
Under the Nose: I can reduce one source of input.
Chin: I can move forward—or not—on purpose.
Collarbone: My clarity can return gradually.
Under the Arm: I am coming back to this moment.
Take a breath. Ask what belongs in the next thirty seconds. If no answer comes, reduce one input and repeat the question later.
Rebuild Resourcefulness Before Making the Big Decision
Do one regulating thing and one concrete thing. Regulating might mean tapping, stretching, breathing, or contacting someone steady. Concrete might mean writing the three true priorities, postponing one decision, or sending one clarifying message.
Then reassess. You deserve to make important choices with more of your head, heart, gut, and grounded desire available—not from the center of a swirling mass of demands.
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