Good morning,

Using tapping as emotional first aid is one of its most useful applications, which is why I teach it right after teaching the tapping basics in my Tapping Mastery Blueprint.

If you haven't heard the term before, emotional first aid is used to address emotions in the moment, much like you would apply first aid to a physical injury.

For example, if I look over my to-do list and feel overwhelmed at how much I need to achieve, I do some tapping to calm and refocus myself.

But there is one key difference between first aid and emotional first aid: we will almost always do one, and almost never do the other.

Here is what I mean...

First aid: If you cut yourself, your immediate response is to do something about it. You reach for a tissue, you clean the wound, and then you apply a bandaid.

Emotional first aid: You are sitting at your computer working away on something important when, all of sudden, you lose your internet connection. You start to feel frustrated and call the customer support line. After navigating an overly complicated automated voice messaging phone tree, you are put on hold for the next agent. After hearing the same song (that you hate) nine times, you are finally connected with an agent only to be disconnected moments later so that you have to start again from the beginning. In this time, you have gone from mildly frustrated, to frustrated, to highly frustrated, to angry at a level of anger that makes the Incredible Hulk look like a reasonable guy.

At any point in that process you could have started tapping to do some emotional first aid, in the same way you would have stopped a cut from bleeding, but you didn't.

This isn't because you are doing something wrong; it has to do with the way we experience our emotions.

When we are bleeding, we are literally making a bloody mess, which is obvious, so we take action to stop it right away.

When we are feeling negative emotions, those very negative emotions get in our way of recognizing that we are feeling the negative emotions. The negative emotions prevent us from responding to our negative emotions.

This week in the podcast, I share two simple ways to help you to remember to tap in the moment so that the worst you feel is a little frustrated and you don't go full on Hulk SMASH!!!

Even if you aren't the Hulk SMASH type, I'm sure there are times when your emotions get the better of you and you forget to tap.

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/KUXjh93H7zg

Listen to the audio-only: https://tappingqanda.com/655

There is a reason I spend so much time on this approach in the Tapping Mastery Blueprint. It is because I believe it's essential.

I know you will not only love, but use these approaches,

Gene

PS: Yesterday, during the free Wednesday live stream, I shared how I use tapping to enhance and improve creativity. Even if you don't think of yourself as a particularly creative person, I recommend you tune in to the replay because these approaches to tapping are perfect when you are trying to solve any kind of problem in your daily life. Watch the replay here: https://youtube.com/live/i0gSYa473-w