Stress!

How Did We Get Here?

I probably don't have to tell you that in the modern world, there are more stimuli of many kinds assaulting us than ever before in history.  Everything is bigger, louder, and faster, and life moves at a breakneck pace as compared to the pace of life throughout history for our ancestors.  We see ourselves dwarfed by the enormous structures man has built.  We experience tremendous amounts of noise, from the roar of traffic and airplanes overhead to emergency vehicle sirens, from barking dogs to screaming children nearly everywhere we go, from loud music and T.V. noise to enthusiastic people yelling their every word for the fun of it, and even elective experiences like action and horror films with very loud sound effects.  We feel ourselves being jostled on all sides by masses of other people when we go shopping, or to a sporting or entertainment event.  We know that we live on an overpopulated planet.  We are told that resources are scarce.  

Those of us with dangerous jobs, such as firefighters, police, and active members of the military, deal with high levels of personal risk on a daily basis.  We have access to "news" and disturbing images of seemingly every bad thing that is happening in the world in any given moment.  This is often delivered by belligerent, self-aggrandizing pundits who seem far more concerned with grabbing attention than with informing and educating.  As a result, those of us living anywhere other than extremely rural and technologically disconnected places find ourselves swimming in a disorienting vat of external information; simultaneously, we experience the often-tumultuous swirl of our memories and our internal processes, physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual, which is the only part of all this stimulation that might be roughly similar to what previous humans experienced.  Though, since we live a lot longer on average than we used to, one could argue that we carry a lot more accumulated memories and trauma with us than most of our ancestors (or at least the ones who were not involved in war).

These dramatic changes in lifestyle have happened so quickly (only in the last 200 years or so, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Europe) that humanity has struggled to invent innovations that would be necessary to alleviate the evolving shocks to our systems.  

The Physical Factors

As a survival mechanism, humans are born programmed with the "fight or flight" or stress response, which causes the release of various hormones to send the heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and blood sugar upward so that we can react more quickly to immediate danger in the surrounding environment.  While this mechanism is extremely helpful when it's necessary to actually fight a predator or flee an avalanche, the increased stimuli that we now live with can cause this same response to activate so often that we are constantly being flooded with high levels of these hormones, and experiencing these relatively extreme bodily reactions with a frequency that exhausts us.

While we are aided by the decrease in malnutrition and disease that greater knowledge and hygiene, and the availability of food shipped from other locations, has made possible, many of us struggle daily with this modern experience.  We find ourselves increasingly affected by diseases and emotional problems linked to stress.  Stress can contribute to health issues as widespread as:

·       depression

·       coronary disease

·       cancer

·       HIV/AIDS

·       headaches

·       insomnia

·       colds and infections

·       asthma

·       and digestive problems (among others)  

The Conundrum

Even though many of us know this, we find that stress seems to mount over time.  It can creep up on us such that we don't notice or acknowledge rising levels until we experience undeniable physical, mental, or emotional problems.  We know that we "should" be attempting to counter our stressful experiences with relaxation, enjoyable activities, positive social experiences, some sort of spiritual or calming practice like certain kinds of yoga or meditation, exercise, 7+ hours of sleep per night, and a healthy diet.  However, we also get messages from those around us and most modern cultures that we also "should" be able to work long hours, keep getting promoted, have a healthy partnership at home, raise multiple children, send them all to college, own a big house, volunteer and give to charity, have hobbies, remain at peak fitness, be rich and famous, and on and on.  Even if we can admit with our logical minds that balancing absolutely everything on the list all the time may not be possible, we still tend to feel all the conflicting messages and demands jangling around inside us and calling us to do more, more, more.  Is it any wonder that so many of us feel constantly overwhelmed?

In addition to the garden varieties of stress and overstimulation that are so common, we can add traumatic experiences.  If we experience these in childhood, they are particularly hard for us to understand and process, and they can remain hidden or very hard to release without specific, individualized intervention; even if we're adults when they occur, their echoes may convince that life can never be as good as it was before the traumatic events.  They may lead to beliefs about ourselves and the world that make life feel bad, difficult, and frightening, and that will shape our daily experiences until we can release them. 

Both everyday stress and traumas can accumulate until we feel old, tired, grumpy, and pessimistic.  We may assume that the messages we so often hear about aging are correct, and that these feelings are just a normal product of physical aging, so nothing can be done about them.  What I have found to be true, instead, is that we can do a great deal to lift off these layers of accumulated stress; we can regain a large helping of our childlike enthusiasm and energy with sustained use of this incredible tool called EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) or Tapping.

Enter Tapping  (A History)

EFT Tapping is a subset of meridian tapping, the practice of tapping lightly on the energy meridian points defined by Chinese acupuncture—which is a highly effective healing methodology that has evolved over thousands of years.  Acupuncture, which stimulates meridian points through the insertion of very fine needles (in acupressure, points are stimulated with the fingers instead) can, in the hands of an accomplished practitioner, be helpful for almost any discomfort.  

Meridian tapping was pioneered in the 1960's by George Goodheart.  He seems to have been the first person to have tried tapping on acupuncture points in order to make some of the benefits of acupuncture available to more people; he did this in the course of developing a system called Applied Kinesiology.  An Australian psychiatrist named John Diamond expanded on Goodheart's work by tapping on meridian points to address emotional issues.  He called this new field of endeavor Behavioral Kinesiology.  Further innovations were discovered by American psychiatrist Roger Callahan, who called his system TFT or Thought Field Therapy, and both Dr. Patricia Carrington and Gary Craig later separately came to similar conclusions on a simplified method built on all the work that had come before in which a single sequence of meridian points is used, no matter what the complaint.  Carrington and Craig eventually met and collaborated, and the system including their contributions became known in the 1980's as EFT.  (I am indebted to the accounts of Pat Carrington for this chronology.)

Since then, practitioners who use EFT have proliferated and added to the pool of knowledge and experience now recognized much more widely than in professional psychology circles.  This information is now all over the Internet, so that anyone can learn it and enjoy his or her own successes with these methods.

Using EFT on Stress

There are many approaches for "managing" stress that we are encouraged to try by enthusiasts, but I have come to think of EFT as, instead, a way to eradicate stress.  It has been shown over and over in both scientific studies and by many various practitioners to have amazing and lasting effects.  It works to support both unwinding physical discomfort and mental/emotional patterns—or both, as in the processes of releasing cravings.  While nothing works on everyone all the time, with practice and a little patience, one can learn to use EFT in ways that yield expedient results.  The only side effect of its use is an increased sense of calm and, often, improved sleep!  It's a very safe modality, it's easy to learn, and it's free to use.  

The only qualification I would point out is that anyone with a serious psychological diagnosis or overwhelming trauma in their history should proceed with caution, and probably with the assistance of one of the many well-qualified psychological professionals who utilize EFT in their practices.  Also, no one should attempt to work on an issue alone if he or she doesn't feel comfortable doing so.  

Otherwise, feel free to try it out on your own and experiment until you find the methods that work for you.  I hope you find that Tapping quickly becomes one of your favorite methods to de-stress, relax, and feel better about everything you’re experiencing in your life.  

Learn More

Be sure to opt into my newsletter on the Home page for a free report, “Why Tapping Works and Why It Might Not Work for You the Very First Time You Try It,” as well as an interview with an expert on Traditional Chinese Medicine about the mechanics behind all the great results that are possible through Tapping.