Include EFT in your recovery toolbox
Overcoming addiction requires a willingness to accept sobriety, the courage to face formidable physical and emotional challenges, and a belief in one’s ability to stay sober despite self-doubt and past failures. It also requires the support of loved ones, friends, an effective program with a dedicated staff, a team of medical and mental health professionals, and a lot of personal strength.
It has been said that addiction is a response to a problem that has yet to be identified and resolved. Could the problem stem from a subconscious belief, often formed in childhood, that makes the person believe that they are unloved, unworthy, or not good enough?
Having negative beliefs about yourself is not usually the result of one or two isolated events. These damaging beliefs gradually take root and grow as the culmination of many events, one disappointing, embarrassing, and traumatic memory all at once.
We have all experienced painful and tragic events and have often felt like “we were there, we did that, we dealt with it.” It is true that many old events and traumas no longer carry the emotional charge they once did. Sometimes, however, despite our best efforts to pick up the pieces and move on, they retain their emotional intensity and ultimately lead to physical or emotional pain or dysfunction.
But how can you heal old trapped emotions if you can’t see or remember them? How do you bring up remembered horrors that are too painful to revisit? An energy healing modality that is gentle and effective in uncovering past incidents and neutralizing their charge is EFT, or Emotional Freedom Technique.
EFT stimulates acupressure points along the body’s energy pathways or meridians. Instead of using acupuncture needles, you touch the designated points with your own fingers as you focus on the troublesome event, while affirming your self-esteem. EFT addresses the negative aspects of a problem before inserting positive sentences into the tapping sequence, and it is incredibly effective!
Based on healing principles dating back 3,000 years, EFT’s popularity boomed in the 1970’s and continues to expand. Today, 6 million people around the world use EFT, and its success with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has led to numerous studies to determine its scientific basis.
One component to overcoming addiction is dismantling limiting beliefs and neutralizing the burden of old traumas, large and small. Too many to tackle? No problem. Once you hit the major events, the minor events just lose their charge. That’s called the Generalization Effect, and it ensures that we don’t have to tap on every icky thing that’s ever happened to us!
EFT supports treatment at every step of recovery. It takes away the excessive emotions that trigger us and that cloud our thinking and ask for serenity at all costs. It softens or removes resistance to treatment and allows for a shift in perception that supports a belief system that empowers rather than destroys. With EFT in your recovery toolbox, your sobriety is easier to achieve and maintain. Tap on!