Are “Bad Feelings” Good? By Rita Desnoyers-Garcia

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Are “Bad Feelings” Good? By Rita Desnoyers-Garcia

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So, you’ve been studying the Law of Attraction for a while and you get the idea from
your teachers or friends that it’s really important to focus on the positive, good feeling
thoughts. Dwelling on the “bad” or “negative” thoughts or feelings just keeps you stuck
or spiraling down creating more negative stuff in your life. Sound familiar?

Here’s the deal. Having “bad” or “negative” feelings is not a death sentence (or a “bad”
thing). In fact, welcome it! It’s cause to celebrate! (Maybe not now, but soon..soon).

The “bad” feeling is your friend- it’s letting you know that you’re feeling separate from
your Higher Self. Your Higher Self ( Big YOU) is cool with it all, but that “small you”
gets frustrated, jealous, angry etc. by your “reality” and experiences separation and
discord. It’s not in harmony with Higher Self and so you feel “bad”.

Having a feeling that is less than positive is simply an indicator of where you are on the
vibrational scale. It’s just information. Information for you to use, if you want, in a
few ways.

One way to use this information is to know where you are. As in, “I’m feeling anger.
Here I am, in Angerland. Thanks for the sign, Universe! Now I know where I am, at
least.” Allow yourself to feel the anger. Really feel it. You are alive and one way to
know that is to feel what you feel. It’s is where you are and that’s OK. It doesn’t make
you a failure or a phony or less than. It’s part of being a human being.

Acknowledging your feeling alone is really important. It’s the first step in allowing it
to flow through you and not get stuck in it. Judge it if you want to stay there. Have
compassion for yourself if you want it to run its course.

The next way to use your negative feeling is to say “OK, Anger, I appreciate your
appearance and I’d like to let you go when I’m ready.” In other words, your Higher
Self has brought you here so you know where you are and to release what no longer
serves you. In fact, your uncomfortable feelings are often covering up most of your
power. (Thought that may be an incentive for you to stay with this “feeling your negative
feelings idea”…)

Here’s where you get to take advantage of all those release techniques you’ve learned.

Haven’t a clue how to release an emotion? I’ve collected a few over the years that I like
(but that’s another blog post or an email to me). You can find them online as well (ie
Sedona Method etc.)

In a nutshell, releasing has three steps. Welcoming in the feeling (that’s the
acknowledging part), observing the feeling and/or asking yourself if you want, can,
and are ready to let go, and then letting go.

Once you let go, see how you feel. The same, different, better/worse? There may be
more there to release or not.

Once you’ve released, look at the situation again. What does it look like? Do things
seem clearer? What action would you take if any, to move forward?

Remember to befriend your “negative” feelings. Love them. They are there to help you
discover and experience the powerfully creative being who you are.

Rita Desnoyers-Garcia is an Energy Healer, Spiritual Life Coach, Author, Musician,
and Channel. Her website is www.BecomingAwake.com.

Are you “Tapping” your way to happiness?

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What is Tapping?

Millions of people are settling for lives filled with poor health and emotional baggage. Not knowing how to achieve the joyful and satisfying lives they desire, they’re stuck accepting a lifestyle of emotional trauma, chronic physical pain, compulsions and addictions, or perhaps just an empty feeling inside. Along with these problems come pills to kill the pain, sleep at night, and suppress anxiety – but this is hardly better than the disease.

If you’re like many people, you feel trapped, caught in this cycle. You’re tired of feeling sad, depressed, anxious, discontent, and unwell. You’re sick of the expensive and ineffective treatments. You’re fed up with relinquishing the power over your health and happiness to psychologists and doctors. You’d like to grow, flourish, and thrive, putting the past in the past. You want to be your best, living a life that is filled with peacefulness, joy, and fulfillment, from day to day and moment to moment.

With Tapping, you can do that. You can discover the vital secret for emotional wholeness and physical relief. You can take your physical and emotional well-being into your own hands. It’s simple for anyone to master, and it’s free.

Tapping provides relief from chronic pain, emotional problems, disorders, addictions, phobias, post traumatic stress disorder, and physical diseases. While Tapping is newly set to revolutionize the field of health and wellness, the healing concepts that it’s based upon have been in practice in Eastern medicine for over 5,000 years. Like acupuncture and acupressure, Tapping is a set of techniques which utilize the body’s energy meridian points. You can stimulate these meridian points by tapping on them with your fingertips – literally tapping into your body’s own energy and healing power.

Your body is more powerful than you can imagine… filled with life, energy, and a compelling ability for self-healing. With Tapping, you can take control of that power.

Learn more about Tapping and attend a free Tapping World Summit HERE.

 

So How Does It All Work?

All negative emotions are felt through a disruption of the body’s energy. And physical pain and disease are intricately connected to negative emotions. Health problems create feedback – physical symptoms cause emotional distress, and unresolved emotional problems manifest themselves through physical symptoms. So, the body’s health must be approached as a whole. You cannot treat the symptoms without addressing the cause, and vice-versa.

The body, like everything in the universe, is composed of energy. Restore balance to the body’s energy, and you will mend the negative emotions and physical symptoms that stem from the energy disruption. Tapping restores the body’s energy balance, and negative emotions are conquered.

The basic technique requires you to focus on the negative emotion at hand: a fear or anxiety, a bad memory, an unresolved problem, or anything that’s bothering you. While maintaining your mental focus on this issue, use your fingertips to tap 5-7 times each on 12 of the body’s meridian points. Tapping on these meridian points – while concentrating on accepting and resolving the negative emotion – will access your body’s energy, restoring it to a balanced state.

You may be wondering about these meridians. Put simply, energy circulates through your body along a specific network of channels. You can tap into this energy at any point along the system.

This concept comes from the doctrines of traditional Chinese medicine, which referred to the body’s energy as “ch’i.” In ancient times, the Chinese discovered 100 meridian points. They also discovered that by stimulating these meridian points, they could heal. Call it energy, call it the Source, call it life force, call it ch’i… Whatever you want to call it, it works.

In some ways, Tapping is similar to acupuncture. Like Tapping, acupuncture achieves healing through stimulating the body’s meridians and energy flow. However, unlike Tapping, acupuncture involves needles! “No needles” is definitely one of the advantages of Tapping.

Acupuncture also takes years to master. Acupuncture practitioners must memorize hundreds of meridian points along the body; the knowledge and training take years to acquire.

Tapping is simple and painless. It can be learned by anyone. And you can apply it to yourself, whenever you want, wherever you are. It’s less expensive and less time consuming. It can be used with specific emotional intent towards your own unique life challenges and experiences. Most importantly, it gives you the power to heal yourself, putting control over your destiny back into your own hands.

The History of Tapping: An Accidental Discovery Leads to a Healing Revolution

It began in 1980, with a psychologist by the name of Roger Callahan, and a patient with an extreme phobia of water. Mary’s fear of water controlled her life and kept her from daily activities. She was unable to take her children to the beach and was unable to drive near the ocean; she grew fearful when it rained, and could not even withstand the sight of water on TV. She had vivid nightmares involving water.

Dr. Callahan and Mary had been working on this problem together for over a year. Finally, Mary worked up the courage to sit within sight of the pool at Dr. Callahan’s house. Even doing this caused Mary extreme distress, and though she found ways to cope with the intense fear and emotional pain, she did not overcome her phobia. They discussed her problem, and how to overcome it, but without success.

Her fear of being near the water caused Mary stomach pains – a common “gut reaction.” Dr. Callahan had recently been studying traditional Chinese medicines, and learning about meridians. Suddenly he had an inspiration. Remembering that there was an acupuncture point for the stomach meridian on the cheekbone, he asked her to tap there, thinking it might cure her stomach pains.

Mary tapped her cheekbone as directed, and this little action changed medicinal history! The response seemed miraculous, to both Mary and Dr. Callahan. Her stomach pains disappeared. But even more amazingly, her phobia of water disappeared, too! She ran down to the pool and began splashing herself with water, rejoicing in her newfound freedom from fear.

Based on this discovery, Dr. Callahan began a series of investigations to develop and refine this technique, which he termed Thought Field Therapy. Gary Craig trained under Dr. Callahan’s tutelage in the 1990′s, learning the procedures for TFT. As time passed, Craig began to observe some problems with TFT, aspects that he saw were unnecessary complications.

TFT required practitioners to tap on a specific sequence of meridians (called an algorithm) for each different problem. Diagnosing the problem required a technique called muscle testing, wherein the practitioner would measure the relative strength of a muscle, while the patient explored various thoughts or statements.

Craig observed repeated scenarios in which the problem was incorrectly diagnosed or the practitioner tapped out the meridian points in the wrong order, yet the patient was still helped.. Based on these observations, he concluded that it did not matter in which order the meridian points were tapped.

Craig developed EFT as a simplified, improved version of the concepts behind Callahan’s TFT. EFT has one basic, simple sequence of points to tap, no matter what the situation.

Because of this, thousands of people have used Tapping for illnesses and to resolve emotional problems. Tapping practitioners have studied the techniques and trained to take on more complicated and difficult cases, and these dedicated practitioners report more successful applications daily. More and more people are discovering and exploring Tapping. Many are discovering how Tapping can change their lives.

Basic Tapping Sequence for Anxiety

As discussed, Tapping can be used for everything- try it on everything! In this example, we’ll focus on general anxiety.

Try it now with this initial sequence. Here’s how a basic Tapping sequence works:

  • Identify the problem you want to focus on. It can be general anxiety, or it can be a specific situation or issue which causes you to feel anxious.
  • Consider the problem or situation. How do you feel about it right now? Rate the intensity level of your anxiety, with zero being the lowest level of anxiety and ten being the highest.
  • Compose your set up statement. Your set up statement should acknowledge the problem you want to deal with, then follow it with an unconditional affirmation of yourself as a person.

“Even though I feel this anxiety, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I’m anxious about my interview, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I’m feeling this anxiety about my financial situation, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I panic when I think about ______, I deeply and completely accept myself. ”
“Even though I’m worried about how to approach my boss, I deeply and completely accept myself.”
“Even though I’m having trouble breathing, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

  • Perform the set up.

With four fingers on one hand, tap the Karate Chop point on your other hand. The Karate Chop point is on the outer edge of the hand, on the opposite side from the thumb.

Repeat the set up statement three times aloud, while simultaneously tapping the Karate Chop point. Now take a deep breath!

Get ready to begin tapping! Here are some tips to help you achieve the right technique.

  • You should use a firm but gentle pressure, as if you were drumming on the side of your desk or testing a melon for ripeness.
  • You can use all four fingers, or just the first two (the index and middle fingers). Four fingers are generally used on the top of the head, the collarbone, under the arm… wider areas. On sensitive areas, like around the eyes, you can use just two.
  • Tap with your fingertips, not your fingernails. The sound will be round and mellow.
  • The tapping order begins at the top and works down. You can end by returning to the top of the head, to complete the loop.
  • Now, tap 5-7 times each on the remaining eight points in the following sequence:Eft Tappingno
    Head (H)
    The crown, center and top of the head. Tap with all four fingers on both hands.

    Eyebrow (EB)
    The inner edges of the eyebrows, closest to the bridge of the nose. Use two fingers.

    Side of eye (SE)
    The hard area between the eye and the temple. Use two fingers. Feel out this area gently so you don’t poke yourself in the eye!

    Under eye (UE)
    The hard area under the eye, that merges with the cheekbone. Use two fingers, in line beneath the pupil.

    Under nose (UN)
    The point centered between the bottom of the nose and the upper lip. Use two fingers.

    Chin (CH)
    This point follows symmetrically with the previous one, and is centered between the bottom of the lower lip and the chin.

    Collarbone (CB)
    Tap just below the hard ridge of your collarbone with four fingers.

    Underarm (UA)
    On your side, about four inches beneath the armpit. Use four fingers.

    Head (H)
    And back where you started, to complete the sequence.

As you tap on each point, repeat a simple reminder phrase, such as “my anxiety” or “my interview” or “my financial situation.” Tap firmly with the first two fingers on each hand.

Now take another deep breath!

  • Now that you’ve completed the sequence, focus on your problem again. How intense is the anxiety now, in comparison to a few minutes ago? Give it a rating on the same number scale.
  • If your anxiety is still higher than “2″, you can do another round of tapping. Keep tapping until the anxiety is gone. You can change your set up statement to take into account your efforts to fix the problem, and your desire for continued progress. “Even though I have some remaining anxiety, I deeply and completely accept myself.” “Even though I’m still a little worried about this interview, I deeply and completely accept myself.” And so on.
  • Now that you’ve focused on dispelling your immediate anxiety, you can work on installing some positive feelings instead.

Note: This is a different approach than traditional “positive thinking.” You’re not being dishonest with yourself. You’re not trying to obscure the stress and anxiety inside yourself with a veneer of insincere affirmations. Rather, you’ve confronted and dealt with the anxiety and negative feelings, offering deep and complete acceptance to both your feelings and your self. Now, you’re turning your thoughts and vibrations to the powerful and positive. That’s what makes Tapping so much more effective than the “positive thinking” techniques that many of you have already tried. It’s not just a mental trick; instead, you’re using these positive phrases and tapping to tune into the very real energy of positivity, affirmation, and joy that is implicit inside you. You’re actually changing your body’s energy into a more positive flow, a more positive vibration.

Here are some example phrases to guide you:

“I have faith in my ability to change.”
“I am joyful about these positive changes.”
“I am accomplishing so much.”
“I enjoy the calm and peace that I have.”
“I love the person that I am.”
“I am becoming a more relaxed and joyful person.”

You can use these positive phrases with the same tapping points and sequences described above.

Congratulations! You’ve completed your first Tapping sequence.

Learn more about Tapping and attend a free Tapping World Summit HERE.

 

Who are you pointing at?

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Whenever we blame someone else for anything, we are non verbally (and sometimes
physically) pointing our finger at them!

I am sure you have heard that described in the past at pointing your finger at someone, means
there are THREE pointing back to you!

Recently, an alert reader (as Dave Barry calls them), pointed out to me 
that we ignore the position of the thumb – which is usually pointing upwards.

So why is that significant? In several ways.

One, because it’s a great reminder for us that whenever we point the finger at someone, not
only are we three parts to blame but we usually forget to consider the whole picture. To look at
all the components contributing to the current situation.

Two, if you are spiritually inclined, it is a reminder to look towards God (or whatever you
believe in) and remind yourself to look at the person and situation as God would look at it –
with love, compassion and understanding! To consider the spiritual wisdom that might be
behind the current events or even to consider forgiveness!

Since I started thinking about this, I try to do it when I have a ‘disagreement’ with my husband!
We ALL point the finger at others at times – we either blame them out loud or silently condemn
them for causing us grief!

So the last time I did this – it was a silent ‘blaming’! Where I was feeling hard done by, feeling
sorry for myself as, once again I was a mere innocent victim of his random mood! LOL

Suddenly, the image of my hand pointing at him flashed through my mind! Darn. I realized I
had to take SOME responsibility and look at my own actions leading up to this particular event.
OK, well quite a LOT of responsibility!

I also needed to do a little reframe from God’s perspective – to look at the situation from above
– seeing the WHOLE picture and acknowledging ALL the elements that we in play.

How many times do we point the finger at someone at work – we blame them for being
incompetent or useless or irritating or annoying. We make it very personal – particularly as
leaders.

And of course, everyone needs to take responsibility for their own actions BUT many times
there are other circumstances and YOU ….yes, YOU…contribute significantly to the behavior
that annoys you!

Have you ever noticed that when you stop reacting to something a person does that annoys
you, they either stop doing it – or it just seems to disappear as an issue?!

Or when your first reaction is compassion and an attempt to understand, YOU remain calmer
and deal with life’s curve balls much better?

Pointing our finger can become a really useful tool to remind us to be forgiving; to use
compassion; to check our own actions before we cast aspersions at another; to be a better
parent (remember – we are a large factor in who our children are); to be a better leader – and
just plain old responsible for our actions!

Imagine if you introduced this symbol to your family or your work ‘family’ – if you taught
everyone what it REALLY meant!

It would be something you could do with a smile if you suspect someone is silently blaming
you! Or even if they are overtly blaming you!

Do it when you find yourself blaming someone else to trigger a) looking at your own
contribution and b) to consider the higher spiritual truth going on; or to trigger forgiveness if it is
necessary – or just to remind you to be compassionate and be kind.

Discuss this over dinner tonight and make it a family ritual to use with humor – asking each
other (if you hear blaming happening or victim like statements) “you wouldn’t be doing this
would you?”!

It might even start a new trend at work or home where people not only take more responsibility
for their own actions but also more consistently consider the bigger picture or spiritual wisdom
in situations.

WHOO HOOO – wouldn’t that be special!!

Amanda Gore is an international speaker, author and featured in the AVAIYA film,
MPower: Empowering Women in Business and Beyond www.avaiya.com
Learn more about Amanda at: www.amandagore.com