Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) or Tapping, is a holistic body/mind technique that involves stimulating specific meridian points on the body by tapping them with your fingertips. It’s like acupuncture without the needles. The idea is that tapping these points while focusing on a particular emotional issue can release energy blockages that cause negative emotions.
What I am about to share with you is a way to use EFT to instill positive thoughts and feelings using affirmations rather than focusing on just the negative memories or feelings. This process is about creating a healthier emotional balance through the use of affirmations. So lets explore how using Positive Tapping can help you change your life using EFT and affirmations.
EFT And Research
Just a bit about EFT and some of the research behind it before we jump into how to use Positive Tapping with affirmations.
If you are completely new to EFT, you may want to visit my post on Emotional Freedom Techniques. This will give you more information on Tapping, where the points are and how to get started.
More and more research is being done that now supports the efficacy of EFT. Multiple studies have found that EFT can significantly reduce the symptoms of anxiety, depression, and even PTSD. These benefits are thought to arise from the tapping’s ability to lower cortisol levels, commonly known as the stress hormone.
But that’s not all. Besides the changes in cortisol levels, EFT tapping might stimulate the brain’s neural pathways linked to emotional regulation. This stimulation appears to calm the amygdala, the part of the brain that kicks into high gear during stressful situations, and increase activity in areas associated with positive emotional processing.
Difference Between Traditional EFT and Positive Tapping
While Traditional EFT may involve exploring and processing negative emotions and experiences to release their emotional charge, Positive Tapping focuses on shifting attention towards positive emotions and thoughts. Rather than dwelling on past traumas or negative patterns, Positive Tapping encourages individuals to focus on what they want to experience and manifest in their lives. Positive Tapping seeks to promote emotional resilience, positivity, and personal growth by actively fostering positive emotions and beliefs. It emphasizes the power of positive thinking and affirmations to create a more uplifting and empowering emotional state.
Both approaches offer valuable tools for emotional wellness and personal transformation, allowing individuals to navigate life’s challenges with greater resilience and positivity.
What About Affirmations
Now, what happens when we throw affirmations into the mix? Affirmations—positive, empowering statements about ourselves—can help rewire our thought patterns. They tap into the brain’s neuroplasticity, its remarkable ability to form new connections and neural networks with repeated practice. Pairing these positive statements with the physical action of tapping amplifies the effects, making EFT a powerful technique for personal transformation.
One of the principles of EFT is the idea that our thoughts and emotions are intricately connected to our physical health. By acknowledging and accepting our emotions, even the negative ones we can process and clear any negative impact they are having on our system or in our life. By shifting our focus towards positive emotions and thoughts, we can create a more harmonious energy flow within the body. Positive Tapping along with the use of affirmations encourages individuals to cultivate a mindset of positivity and optimism, which can have profound effects on their overall well-being.
Crafting Empowering Affirmations for EFT Tapping
If you’re looking to really make changes in your life, it’s vital to tailor your affirmations so they’re personal and relevant to your experiences and desires for them to be truly effective.
- Start with an affirmation that resonates deeply with you.
- When it comes to constructing your affirmations, think positive, present tense, and powerful.
- Start your affirmations with ‘I am’ or ‘I choose,’ making them assertive and in the now. (Instead of saying, ‘I don’t want to be stressed,’ frame it positively: ‘I am calm and centered.’)
- You can craft different affirmations for each aspect of your life you want to change. (Want more confidence? Your affirmation might be ‘I am confident in my ability to create a life I love.’ Looking to foster a sense of abundance? Try ‘I acknowledge the abundance that surrounds me.’)
- Tune into your emotional response. Affirmations should feel good and align with your inner truth. If something feels off, adjust your affirmation until it fits just right.
Step-by-Step Guide: Changing Your Life with Positive Tapping and Affirmations
- Get a journal – you will want to keep track of the affirmations you are using and track them. Periodically check in to see if you notice they are feeling true, add in supporting evidence, experiences and synchronicities.
- Find a quiet place to focus – write out what you want more of in your life. If you want more confidence, create an affirmation such as “I move forward in life with confidence and ease”, or if you need to start softer, maybe it is “I am choosing to believe in myself and my abilities”.
- Scale your belief – once you are clear on your affirmation, write it down and check in, breathe, how true does it feel? 50%, 80%, 5%, you want to write that down before and after each tapping session check in and see if it is getting more believable.
- Get centered – sit quietly in a place where you won’t be disturbed, give yourself a few minutes to get centered, do some deep breathing, tap a round or two just to calm your body.
- Start tapping in affirmations – for at least 5 minutes tap in the affirmation, or affirmations. I would limit it to 3 or 4 that are for the same topic – for example have 3 or 4 affirmations on feeling good enough, or on abundance. One topic, and 1 to 4 affirmations.
- Embrace these affirmations – let your mind, body, and soul absorb this new feeling and belief, and then go get a glass of water. If you are getting a lot of push back on an affirmation, you may need to soften it. For example, “I’m open to the possibility that I am good enough.” Stick with sentences that resonate with you and support the change you’re after.
Use your journal. Assess the changes in your life on a regular basis. Are you feeling more at peace? Do you handle stress better? Has your outlook on your identified issue changed? These little victories are significant markers of the progress you’re making with EFT and affirmations. Celebrate them!
Remember, EFT and affirmations are not just one and done; they’re tools that you integrate into your life for ongoing emotional wellness. Stay patient, be consistent, and most importantly, choose something that feels genuinely good for you. If one affirmation doesn’t work, try another. Your first attempt doesn’t need to be your last.
In Summary
EFT is often used to address a wide range of issues, including stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, phobias, and chronic pain. By tapping on specific meridian points while focusing on a specific issue individuals can release blocked energy and reprogram their subconscious mind. If you are dealing with trauma, depression, severe anxiety, or have symptoms that are impacting your ability to function, it is necessary to get professional help with those issues. Just tapping on the positive and saying affirmations is not the answer and would be like putting a band-aid on a broken arm.
Positive Tapping is however, a great method for shifting thoughts towards more empowering beliefs and attitudes. So, it can be a great addition to doing the healing work that traditional EFT does so well. Together, Traditional EFT and Positive Tapping can lead to profound shifts in perception and behavior, allowing individuals to experience greater emotional resilience and inner peace.
One of the most appealing aspects of Positive Tapping is its simplicity and accessibility. Positive Tapping can be easily integrated into daily life as a self-help tool. Individuals can use EFT with Affirmations whenever they encounter challenging emotions or situations, allowing them to quickly alleviate distress and regain a sense of balance and calm. By incorporating Positive EFT into their daily routine, individuals can cultivate a more positive and resilient mindset over time, leading to greater overall happiness and fulfillment.