“Tis the season to be jolly!” If you aren’t feeling jolly and you feel like something must be wrong with you, then I’ve got good news for you. First and foremost, there’s probably nothing innately wrong with you and there is something you can do about it.
For years I dreaded this time of year. I hated the shorter hours of daylight, the cold dreary weather that put everything into many shades of gray. Family and other gatherings often left me feeling more lonely, distressed and low down than if I stayed home alone. I truly got the blues as soon as “daylight savings” reversed directions. I even accused myself of being “Scrooge-like.” Needless to say, something had to change if I was to get through this time of year with any sense of sanity or peace of mind.
I tried changing the light bulbs to full spectrum. It “lightened up” my home environment, but I couldn’t take them with me. Then I tried listening to uplifting music and watching inspiring videos. That helped in the moment, but I quickly fell back into the blues and blahs, which felt worse by comparison. I took classes on visualization, meditation, yoga, dance and it all did help somewhat, but I intuitively knew that “something else” was running the show.
Not long after that, I was introduced to this weird thing called “tapping.” I instinctively knew it was what I was looking for to help me turn my life around. That was 2002. I continue to tap to this day. It not only helped my seasonal mood swings, but it also was instrumental in transforming many other problematic parts of my life in the best possible ways. It’s an essential tool in my personal and coaching toolkit.
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT, tapping) involves using your fingertips to lightly tap on specific places on the face, hands and upper torso. In the mid-’80s, Roger Callahan inadvertently discovered that by combining the ancient wisdom of traditional Chinese acupuncture with modern psychotherapy, he helped his clients make significant shifts in their health and well-being. He taught them to tap in a certain order on various acupuncture points while focused on the problem they were experiencing. His detailed patterns of tapping worked so effectively that he began teaching others. His version was known as Thought Field Therapy (TFT).
One of his students, Gary Craig, simplified elements of TFT into a singular format that was also highly effective and called it EFT. This simplified form is now being taught and used around the world for helping people find relief from all kinds of discomforts, stresses and even physical pain. For many years, it was unclear why this unusual method could be so helpful for so many different conditions. Research indicates that it actually changes the way the brain processes sensory and perceptual information so that you are no longer being “triggered” in ways that result in your form of distress, upset or suffering.
So if you find yourself weighed down with the change in the season or the weather, it might be worth your while to find out more about this thing called tapping. Whether you practice it on your own, or work with a qualified practitioner, there is hope for you to experience the highs and lows of this time of year in a new and improved way. Let me know if you want more information. I’d love to share it with you and provide you with the basic tools you need to start tapping.
You just might experience a new peace and lightness during this time of year just like I did.
