Elizabeth came in for a session and I asked her what she wanted to work on today.
She said that she was starting to experience menopausal symptoms.
Today she was experiencing a headache and menstrual cramps.
Her headache intensity level was a 6 and her menstrual cramps intensity was a 7.
After talking with Elizabeth, I found that her main concern was that she was under a lot of stress.
She felt like she needed to get more child support from her ex-husband because she was running out
of money to buy milk for the kids before the end of the month. The main emotion she was feeling was
anger at her ex-husband, and her SUD level was a 10.
Some of her set-up phrases were Even though:
I am really angry at my ex-husband for being being a jerk, I deeply and completely love and accept my self.
I am pissed off at my ex-husband for cheating me out of money that I need for my kids...
I am angry at myself for stuffing my anger because it isn't good for me to leak it out on my kids,
students or innocent bystanders...and I forgive myself, I really have been doing the best I know how.
While she tapped, I had her INHALE and EXHALE out the anger. Then she tapped on her points for four rounds and
brought her SUD level down to a 6. I asked about her cramps, and they were gone. Her headache had shifted to a
different part of her head, and the SUD level dropped from a 6 to a 4. She commented that she could actually feel
the anger going out the soles of her feet. Since the pain in her head had moved, I explained to her that usually
means that we have cleared part of “that” issue and there is something else to deal with. I asked her
what she had intuited that “something else” to be, and she said that she was seeing what a “waste
of energy” this whole thing was, and how much time it was taking.
The new set-up phrases that we used were Even though:
I still have this #6 anger and it is a waste of energy, and I deeply and completely love and accept myself,
and forgive myself for focusing on this anger so much.
I am still pissed off at my ex, I can see that it is a waste of energy...
I had her tap on the anger, and what a waste of time it was. She did a
couple of rounds, being very loud, focusing on her breath, and cussing
up a storm. She was getting the anger out when I noticed that there had
been a shift, so I started using the choices method, having her say, “I
choose to notice when I get angry”, and I could tell from the slight
frown on her brow that she wasn't quite ready to embrace that, so I had
her follow it with, “No, I don't”, in a little girl's voice”--tap, tap,
tap. “I don't think I can do that yet”--tap, tap, tap. “Yes, I can
”--tap, tap, tap. “No, I can't”--tap, tap, tap. She was giggling and
her face lightened up. While we were tapping I included, “When I get
angry, I will notice”--tap, tap, tap. “Then I will inhale and go to my
center and exhale”--tap, tap, tap. “Then I will choose what I am going
to do”--tap, tap, tap. “If I am angry, I will feel my anger, and I will
let it go”--tap, tap, tap. “I will notice, choose and act”--tap, tap,
tap. This brought her SUD level down to a 2 for her anger. I asked
about her headache and she smiled. She said it was gone and that she
was feeling just a little tightness in her temples.
We then tapped on the Gamut point with the eyes rolling, humming, and counting. This brought her SUD level of her
anger down to a 0. All of this in about 45 minutes. Elizabeth learned a new strategy for when she feels angry.
Instead of carrying her anger with her and wasting a lot of energy, she can NOTICE that she is angry, and then
CHOOSE what to do. One choice is to tap the anger out—ACT instead of carrying the anger around and wasting energy.
She can truly be free from being stuck in an emotion.
