By Winston "Brad" Scott

The story starts at lunch. My friend and I went out to get some non-hotel food and saw a deli across the road. There was a fire truck parked beside it so we thought it had to have good eats. After we entered and saw the long line we knew this was probably true. I ended up standing beside a fireman and just making small talk, I told him he was the reason we were here. He wondered about this and we told him. "If the fire department eats here then it must be good food." He noticed that we "weren't from around here" (he had a very strong US accent and I live in Canada) and asked what brought us down this way.

Instead of trying to explain EFT at that point, I just said I was a hypnotherapist (most people understand that easily) and I was down at a seminar learning about a great new Stress Management tool. He looked at me with a questioning look and then blurted out that I should be using him as my "monkey." I asked him what he meant by that and he said that he felt completely stressed out and was seriously feeling "ready to jump."

Of course I asked him what was up and he proceeded to tell me that he had buried 7 brothers (firemen) in the last 7 weeks and he was just too young for this and he was constantly in a highly stressed state. And he didn't think he could "take anymore". I noticed then that his muscles were all clenched in his neck and jaw and thought if he is that stressed waiting for a sandwich then EFT is going to be his new best friend.

I asked him if he would like to experiment and check out the technique. He said that he would be at the fire hall for the next 8 hours barring a fire and would be more than willing to try anything, as he was desperate. He told me that if I was willing we could check it out but he doubted it would help. I have a total respect for fire fighters as my grandfather was a captain in the Toronto fire department, so I decided to skip a little of the seminar and go over. We met at the door of the station and he took me back to a private area with a couple of seats.

This next part is a testament to getting yourself out of the way. I went in there thinking that it was a current issue that was stressing him. (The loss of his fellow brothers in such a short period.) This proves that to attack any problem with a preconceived notion is a mistake. We started tapping around that issue using the basic shortcut method but didn't get a lot of movement. Since we weren't really getting anywhere I decided to ask him Gary's favorite question. If there was one thing in your life you could eliminate or do over what would it be?  GARY COMMENTS: This question often leads to the Specific Events in one's life that are the causes of many ailments, including this one.  See Uncovering Specific Events - An Essential Concept Within the EFT Tapping Process.

There was no hesitation. He had his issue immediately. It turned out that at the age of three he believed that he had killed his best friend. Two of his friends and himself had snuck into a swimming pool. To use his words, "Three went in and only two came out." His belief was that he killed his friend. He believed he must have pushed his friend in because that is the kind of thing that he would have done. He didn't actually remember it, he just believed he did and he believed that he should be punished and held accountable for it.

He didn't feel he had the right to a happy life. This brave man had been living with post traumatic stress for 35 of his 38 years. He told me he had never really "felt right inside" so we tapped on several aspects of this incident. Whenever he got "stuck" I used the nine gamut and immediately his level of intensity dropped significantly. I know a lot of people have shelved this procedure (the 9 gamut) but when you get stuck it is a remarkable tool. 

I don't want to go into what we tapped on as it is a very personal story and the details might not respect his right to privacy. Suffice it to say that 40 minutes later he thanked me, gave me a hug and told me that he had been to every doctor in town and hadn't been able to resolve anything. He said he felt as if a great weight had been taken off his shoulders. He looked like a different person. His jaw line was relaxed. His neck muscles weren't knotted and sticking out.

I felt really honored to be able to show such a brave man the power of EFT and that there was a way to truly let go of all the destructive trauma and guilt. I left him with a set of borrowing benefits DVDs to use when other aspects came up (I think it's very important to have your client fully understand what aspects are so they don't dismiss EFT as "not working" and with an issue as deep and complicated as this I'm sure there is more work to do.) But I must say that I feel very privileged to call this man my friend. (see Finding Aspects within the EFT Tapping Process).

We have stayed in touch and months later he reports that he still feels very calm about the situation. I remember his comment was."You know. Hey I've done my time. I really do deserve some peace." 

I am so in awe of EFT and the peace it can bring about. Thank you Gary

Winston "Brad" Scott