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Part 1: Introduction
Modern allopathic (western) medicine, when it isn't slicing a problem out or reconstructing nature, is a linguistic construct - a naming game. Medical researchers take a set of symptoms, describe them, compare them to similar symptom sets, and give them a name. The same system is used for naming plants and animals:
Animals–>Mammals–>Primates–>Monkeys–>Rhesus Monkey
Ideally this naming system allows the practitioner to prescribe an effective treatment. The more precise the naming (diagnosis), the more effectively the practitioner can treat the disease. Hopefully the few minutes spent listening to the patient's description of complaints leads the doctor to the right diagnosis and drug prescription.
A second reason for naming diseases is that anytime you can differentiate between symptom sets and name a new disease, you create a market for a new set of drugs. For example, in the 1990's natural conditions such as pregnancy, menopause, puberty and baldness were designated abnormal states, and drug companies could therefore market to them.
The allopathic system works well for some people, especially when insurance pays for it. Others notice that following this system fates them to a downward spiral of health. A few of these people say, "enough already," and start looking for a different paradigm of health care.
Many of these people find their way to EFT.
A large obstacle for the new EFT user is that although they see the value of EFT, they bring with them the name of their condition as diagnosed. This is natural because it is how they were taught to view what is going on with them. The problem is that the name itself keeps them stuck.
A person who has been "diagnosed" takes ownership of the disease as if it is part of who they are. The get married to the idea of the disease. I've never heard anyone say, "I have some of the symptoms of excessive blood sugar." They say, "I am diabetic." They become the disease, or at least keep it in their possession. They say:
My cancer is back.
My feet swell because of my diabetes.
My depression keeps me from going out and having fun.
I'm afraid I'll have another one of my panic attacks.
I have OCD. (Acronyms have a friendlier sound.)
My arthritis is acting up.
I am bi-polar.
We become a victim of this disease that is outside our control. Perhaps the most insidious is the word depression. "I suffer from depression." Depressed is the word given to someone who feels powerless because they are angry and cannot do anything about it. By becoming a victim of depression, the name itself diverts the sufferer's attention away from the anger underlying the feeling of powerlessness. The name gives their troubled state a home. The name hides the anger that continues to fester no matter how many drugs suppress the symptoms.
Ironically, the law mandates that only a drug can cure a disease, but so far, none of them do. Instead they manage symptoms. "Disease states" are incurable. Once diagnosed, we know that the disease will be with us for life; we are broken and defective. Which we already knew because we suffer from "low self-esteem."
Unfortunately, this belief of incurability follows us into the EFT session and distracts us from the results we are looking for.
It further distracts us because we know that if we have a physical disease, there must be a physical cause. Our search for the physical cause distracts us from the underlying emotional cause. If we "have" arthritis in our hand, we might get relief from tapping on:
This pain in my hand.
But it may be more productive to tap on
Resentment due to holding onto a relationship that is over,
which reminds us of other resentments that manifest as intestinal pain. Soon the larger pattern leads us to look for a core issue. (See "How to Find the Emotion that May Causing the Pain.")
An EFT practitioner can allow the body, through its symptoms, to point to the emotions that cause our physical bodies to be out of balance. Each symptom provides a clue to unlocking the puzzle box that keeps us stuck.
So drop the name. Divorce yourself from the disease. Doing so allows you the freedom you need to follow the clues given to you through the symptoms you experience.
A good way to effect a divorce is to use the Choices Technique developed by EFT master Dr. Pat Carrington. The first step is to name the disease you have become married to. For example, if we believed:
I suffer from arthritis,
we can replace it with the new thought:
I now choose to see each symptom as a clue that will help free me from emotional imbalance.
These two statements give us the basis for our set-up phrase, which is a combination of our past belief and our new choice. We say this set-up phrase three times while tapping on the karate chop point:
Even though I believed I suffer from arthritis,
I now choose to see each symptom as a clue that will help free me from emotional imbalance.
Then the 8-point tapping sequence is done in three rounds. In the first round, we tap on the negative statement to release the emotions associated with it.
I believed I suffer from arthritis.
In the second round, we tap on the new choice to establish it in our consciousness.
I now choose to see each symptom as a clue that will help free me from emotional imbalance.
In the third round, we alternate. For instance, tap on the eyebrow with
I believed I suffer from arthritis.
Then tap on the side of the eye with
I now choose to see each symptom as a clue that will help free me from emotional imbalance.
Then tap under the eye with
I believed I suffer from arthritis.
Then tap under the nose with
I now choose to see each symptom as a clue that will help free me from emotional imbalance.
And so on. Always end on the positive choice statement. Do this exercise three times a day for three weeks to establish a new pattern of thought.
Now the married name is gone, your original name is back and you are ready to go deeper.
Next:
Getting Unstuck
Part 3: Journey to the Core
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