by Dr. Alexander R. Lees, www.dralexlees.com
When several clients came into my office over the past few weeks (all of whom had been taught the “tapping”) and admitted that they forgot to tap, didn’t think of tapping, or didn’t have the time, I thought I would write about why it is important to remember to tap, to think about tapping and/or make the time to tap when things aren’t going well.
Most of these people had the time and energy to be upset about something, most remembered to get angry or annoyed, and they also had the time to be hurt or sad, but they didn’t have time to tap in order to feel better!
My philosophy has always been, “If X isn’t working, try something, anything else.” Therefore, I want to explain how important it is to recognize what you’re feeling, when you’re feeling it, and why you may want to do something about it… right then and there. Of course, I’m talking about the bad or negative feelings! Here’s a short lesson on where your mind is and how it works.
The human body is truly a miraculous thing! It is made up of billions of cells, over 600 muscles and more than 200 bones. The cells have learned to specialize. Some become nerve cells, others blood cells, still others become skin cells, and so on. All of them need to communicate with the master co-ordinator known as the brain.
So the brain, it would seem, is the head honcho; it’s in charge of everything… or is it? Where does the Mind fit into all of this? Where is it located? Well, to begin, we need to make a distinction between brain and mind. Some time ago, back in high school, we were taught that to classify something as physical, that something had to comply with three prerequisites: “It” had to occupy space, have weight or mass, and have molecular movement.
If any of the three were found to be absent, then “it,” (that which we were talking about), was not physical, but an abstract. So not to worry, a brain adequately fits these three prerequisites and therefore is physical, and, for many of us, should still be there. Not so for the mind, however. A mind has no molecular movement, occupies no space, and has no weight or mass, and is therefore non physical.
So now we have two “things.” A brain, which is physical and a mind, which is non physical. Einstein, back in the 1920s, proposed that the universe is composed of energy; that all matter is energy, organized in some way. Let’s think about the mind as a form of energy, a mindfield.
Every once in a while, this mindfield experiences “storms,” or, a discharge of energy referred to as an emotion. When this particular form of energy is discharged, the physical brain immediately produces a biochemical equivalent, so the body can “read” it. Therefore an emotion (abstract) is suddenly replicated on the physical plane in the form of chemistry. The reason this happens is because the brain and body can’t act upon “nothingness,” so nothingness must be converted into “somethingness.”
Once the appropriate chemistry is produced, it is transported throughout the body, as a set of instructions for the body to act upon. Depending upon the particular information contained within this chemistry, our perception, attitude and behaviour can be modified accordingly.
If you think about our preferred state, that is if you could go to the “State Store” and place an order to have a state installed, most would pick something along these lines. “Hi. I would like a state containing lots of hope, optimism, joy, enthusiasm, confidence and stick-to-it-ness. Oh, and throw in some humour and a dollop of curiosity, perhaps with a pinch of purpose.”
Which leads to the question, “What is this positive and negative emotion business all about?
A positive emotion is a classification for supportive. A negative emotion is a classification for non-supportive.
Positive or negative is really about context: Anger can be useful in one context (supportive) and not useful (non-supportive) in another context. Mild fear can keep you safe and focussed while standing on a roof, whereas excessive fear might be detrimental.
How do you sort it all out?
One of the most efficient ways is to notice your emotional response in some memory, present event, situation or circumstance. Acknowledge it, then ask yourself, “Do I want to respond that way?” If “Yes,” leave it alone. If you answer “No,” then remove it. “How?” you ask.
EFT is one of the simplest, and most effective tools for doing just that.
Think about this. By deciding to apply EFT to emotional responses within yourself that you decide are non-supportive (to self) then you are removing the very signal that triggers a complex cascade of information substances that the body is compelled to act upon.
Another way of thinking about this is, instead of learning to “manage and control” your behaviour (anger) or mood (sad), or try to find “healthier” outlets for “it,” simply cancel the spark (negative emotional discharge) that begins it all. You may be surprised and delighted to discover there is nothing there to “manage.” It is simply gone!
Hopefully I’ve explained (in synopsis form) where the mind is, and how it works, and we will all… remember to tap, think about tapping, and just do it!
