Good morning,
My client looked at me like I had lost my mind.
I was
working with my client "Debbie" and I had just told her that I regularly spend time tapping to encourage myself to make unhealthy choices.
Her look of bewilderment made perfect sense. We were working on her tendency to turn to distracting behaviors like doomscrolling social media, binge-watching old television shows, and reorganizing her spice rack yet again.
She was asking for tapping help to stop these actions and I was telling her that I actually tap to do those sorts of things. (My personal favorite is watching compilations of 4-chair turns from series of The Voice from all over the world and crying.)
In the face of her confusion I continued...
It wasn't that I was saying these distracting behaviors were healthy or desirable. So my tapping wasn't to do these activities, but instead I was tapping to do them in a conscious way.
The reason you reach for these types of distraction is because on a subconscious level you are trying to create a sense of safety and comfort. When you feel frustrated, overwhelmed, disappointed or scared, these behaviors serve to calm yourself down and mask the dysregulated emotions that you don't want to feel.
Is reaching for one of these activities the best
choice I could be making? Obviously not! But when we recognize why we are doing this, we are able to extend a little grace towards ourselves, and establish a starting point for healing and change.
In a perfect world, I would tap so I never fell into these less-than-ideal behaviors…but our world is not perfect and sometimes that is too big of a tapping task at the
moment.
Instead, I tap to acknowledge why I am reaching for this distraction, I tap to give myself permission to do these actions, as long as I am consciously choosing the distraction.
That last bit is key! If I move from unconsciously to
consciously making choices, I can shift from being out of control to in control. When this happens, I often stop the action OR I use the unhealthy behavior for a much shorter period of time.
Instead of falling down a YouTube rabbit hole until it is hours past my bedtime, I am watching for twenty minutes, feeling better, and then moving on with my evening.
I know it sounds odd to tap to do unhealthy actions, but it has really changed my life for the better.
This week in the podcast I am going to share with you:
- How to catch yourself right before
you unconsciously start doing the unhealthy action
- How to tap with compassion in the moment without letting yourself off the hook
- How to tap so that you constrain (and often eliminate) the unhealthy behavior
At this time in history we have so many dysregulated emotions stewing in the background that we are much more likely to choose unhealthy distractions.
Here is the perfect antidote:
Video instruction: https://youtu.be/AN5B4sbQjxc
Audio instruction: https://tappingqanda.com/692
This is a key tool for keeping myself healthy and safe day to day. I know you will love it too.
Gene
PS: Don't forget that if you pre-order 365 Tapping Lessons: Gentle Shifts to Transform How You Heal before March 13th you will also receive a digital copy of 90 Days of Tapping for Financial Abundance free.
Pre-order you copy here: https://365TappingLessons.com
