The Constructive Rant
“Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive - the risk to be alive and express what we really are.”
Since last week I mentioned the usefulness of EFT/Tapping in maintaining positive momentum, this week I wanted to share a tip from my own experience about getting started with it. While working on something specific is where all the long-term benefits are really at, in the beginning, for me personally, the best thing ever was the "tap and rant" approach. To do this, all you need is the points for EFT's Basic Recipe, the Shortcut version. Your setup statement can be something simple, like "Even though I'm stressed out, I deeply and completely accept myself." As you move around the points, you just talk about everything that's bothering you in no particular order. I recommend really enjoying the drama of it all, as you would with a sympathetic best friend; also, I find that it's best to actually speak out loud, even if you're not in the habit of talking to yourself! It's easier to stay focused on how you feel when you do that, and being in touch with your emotions while you tap, rather than off in your head, will tend to give you the best results. It's best to do this alone where you will not be heard, because then you'll be free to admit exactly how you feel without worrying that anyone else will take what you say personally. This is not about being reasonable or logical. It's about not sweeping your thoughts, opinions, and emotions under the rug as you've probably been taught to do when they're not so cute, and instead getting them off your chest in a timely manner.
While it's often helpful to express yourself in words either in writing or verbally to another person, this is not only about that. Studies have shown that using EFT significantly reduces cortisol, a stress hormone, and generally de-escalates the body's fight-flight-freeze response. In practical terms, that means that when you use it as you express what's weighing you down, you may soon find yourself much more relaxed physically, and able to regain helpful perspective. This often translates into better sleep, the ability to stay more calm and productive over time, and an increased ability to be restored by rest and recreation.
Allowing yourself the time to do this has the added benefit of helping you to get better at identifying how you feel and why. When your emotions are experienced only as a background haze and a confused jumble, bailing out your moods seems like a lost cause, effective methods for doing so an unsolvable mystery. When you start to gain clarity about what's going on in there, only then can you address issues in ways that actually solve problems. When you can access clarity quickly and easily, which is a skill you gain over time with Tapping, you waste a lot less time. You can make better decisions and take appropriate action without delay. Everything in your life becomes more efficient. You start to feel more empowered to change your life for the better, whether anyone else changes around you or not. What may once have seemed a somewhat self-indulgent leap of faith proves itself to be a powerful tool for supporting happiness and productivity.
After getting relief through the Tap-and-rant process, eventually the specific things that are bothering you will tend to stand out more starkly. That's when working on each one in turn will tend to produce better progress for you. A wider range of techniques may be required if you really want to make lasting change in specific areas. You can learn these online or in books, or you may prefer to take classes or work with a practitioner who can guide you. This can be a very comforting option, and is also a more appropriate option when what you want to change seems too big, too confusing, or too scary to confront on your own.
However you choose to do it, I hope you'll get started with Tapping and start to leverage its many benefits for yourself. If you're someone who is already perfectly happy with your life as it is, well, good for you! If not, Tapping is a simple, free way to start improving it. As with meditation, you can get noticeable benefits from spending just minutes per day on it; unlike with most meditation, though, you're doing something active rather than struggling to quiet your mind in stillness, so it's easier for many stressed-out modern people to begin. Plus, the benefits are often easy to notice immediately, which helps you want to keep it up. Once you understand what it can do, you'll probably only wish you'd had access to it sooner!