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Articles & Ideas

Professional

When clients get overwhelmed or frustrated with EFT

Important Note: This article was written prior to 2010 and is now outdated. Please use my newest advancement, Optimal EFT. It is more efficient, more powerful and clearly explained in my free e-book, The Unseen Therapist™.  Best wishes, Gary

Hi Everyone,

Gene Monterastelli discusses common misunderstandings clients have about EFT.

Hugs, Gary


By Gene Monterastelli

Client Frustrations

EFT is a wonderful and powerful tool, but just because we know how to do EFT doesn't mean we are going to heal.  I often use the example with clients, just because we know how to sit-ups doesn't mean we are going to have washboard abs.  EFT is no different.  It is a tool that only works when we take the time to use it.

We have all experienced the obstacles that people unfamiliar with EFT use to avoid trying it.  (E.g., That can't work.  It is too easy to work.  It is too weird.  That is just new age mumbo jumbo.)  Recently I have also come across two thoughts that cause my clients who have used EFT for a long period of time to stop using it.

Expecting the "One Minute Miracle"

I still get great joy the first time someone I am teaching experiences a quick relief to something that has gripped them for years.  Often times it is something for which they have tried everything under the sun in search for relief.  EFT is the first thing to provide lasting relief.  It is just unbelievable that it could happen so fast.

Then as they try EFT on everything they start to understand the breadth of the power of EFT.  Quickly they are finding relief to both the physical and emotional.  But they hit a wall.  They find some pain or emotion that won't go away (or significantly reduce) in one round of tapping.  They reason, since EFT didn't work in 60 seconds, it must not be worth the trouble to keep on trying.

In these cases it usually just takes a cognitive reframe to get them back on board to using EFT.  I simply talk them through their own experience.  Many times they had invested months or years to get relief.  Sure in this case it didn't happen in 60 seconds, but it might be worth their time to give it 15 or 20 min.  Usually this is all it takes.

More Than They Expected

It is a phenomena that I have noticed mostly with the clients that I work with regularly, especially when we are working on an issue that has many aspects that requires multiple sessions (like weight loss or multiple traumatic memories).

Typically what happens is during the third or fourth session the client will start to get very overwhelmed by the amount of work that remains.  Because (in many cases for the first time) we have been looking so closely at the roots of a particular issue, the client is starting to understand how many different aspects there are to the problem.  In the past they had only thought about the surface issues.  Now because they are doing healing work, they are facing head on what is really at the root of the problem.  Many times these are issues and memories their conscious mind had been ignoring.

It is like when we are cleaning a bedroom.  After cleaning the room, we decide to look under the bed and find all sorts of dirt and dust we had no idea was there.  When this happens I remind my clients that right now they are taking the short view and are forgetting all the work we have done to this point.  And we start to tap:

Right now I am overwhelmed with how much work is left.

Everywhere I turn there is another issue or aspect.

It is just like an onion, every time I peal a lay off there is another.

This seems like it is never going to end.

But I know how much progress I have made with these issues.

Even though there seems to be so much work to do, I know I am healthier now than when I started.

I also know that with EFT I have wonderful tool to continue this work.

I know how much the progress I have made in the past has improved my life.

And I know more progress is ahead.

All I have to do it take a little time each day to tap.

I am making baby steps.

It might not feel like I am moving forward.

But I know I am.

Regards,

Gene Monterastelli

FOR MORE EFT HELP ...

Explore our newest advancement, Optimal EFT™, by reading my free e-book, The Unseen Therapist™. More efficient. More powerful.