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Telling Others about EFT

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How to Tell Others about EFT

By Dr. Patricia Carrington

I’m always surprised when people tell me, in effect, that "It's so hard to tell others about EFT without them becoming skeptical and thinking I’ve lost my mind!"  This surprises me because while I’ve been using tapping techniques in my practice as a clinical psychologist since 1987, and have used EFT exclusively since 1995, I have practically never had any such experience when I presented EFT to people who knew nothing, or very little, about it.

Others don’t express skepticism to me about EFT when I tell them about it.  A few are hesitant to try it but they are in the minority, and not wanting to use EFT is a valid personal choice.  Of the literally thousands of people to whom I have introduced the concept of EFT, practically none have thought what I was describing was ridiculous, nor indicate that they didn’t believe me.

Is this because these people respected me as a professional in the field of energy psychology?  This cannot be the case because for the most part I was introducing EFT to people whom I encountered casually in a store, on the telephone, in an airport etc. who had never heard of me or my work yet who responded with deep interest in the concept of stress reduction with energy psychology and in EFT in particular.  The bulk of people I have told about EFT over the years have been strangers to me, and if anything, it has been my colleagues in psychology who have been more hesitant to accept all I was saying although they didn’t entirely dismiss my conclusions.

Why then do people in the EFT world so often meet with skepticism when they introduce EFT to others?  And why are my words accepted with great interest, or at the very least with genuine respect, while many other people report that theirs are not?

I will let you in on my "secret".  It is one of attitude.  I clearly come across as certain that EFT is truly a “state-of-the-art” discovery when it comes to stress management, and my genuine confidence in it is unmistakable.

Here is the kind of thing I typically say to those who know nothing (or very little) about EFT.  The dialogue below could have been with anyone who has just learned my full professional name (Dr. Patricia Carrington).  This could be someone who is helping me with an order on the phone or in person, a stranger I am talking to on the bus, someone in a hair salon, a person whose services I am seeking -- anyone who doesn't know me or what I do.  When they first hear my name an amazing number of people, I would estimate close to 80% of them, ask, “What kind of doctor are you?".

ME (responding to them): I'm a psychologist, I specialize in stress management.

PERSON (emphatically):  "That's what I need! -- stress management!"

ME: Don't we all?

The person then begins to tell me all about the stress they face in their own life and seems clearly to want a magic solution to it.

ME (casually sharing information):   We have some remarkable new techniques that can bring down stress MUCH more quickly than we could in the past.  They’re really state-of-the-art.  It's unbelievable."

PERSON:  Really? 

The person now tells tell me more about the stress in their life.  People are almost always eager to share this information because others rarely listen to them when they talk about it.

Then they usually wait for me to tell them more about this "remarkable technique”.

ME: The method we use (notice that I use the pronoun “we” because it’s a true way of representing the situation and also is more impressive as a recommendation) is based on light tapping of acupuncture points, only you don't use needles, you just use tapping and you say out loud certain phrases while you do that.  It's so easy that just about anyone can learn it quickly and we’re using it (note that I use the plural "we" again) with people who have been through disasters or other traumas, with amazing success.  For example, some of us used it for victims of the 9/11 tragedy and it was the only thing that really worked to bring them out of shock."  (This is absolutely true and notice that I am not claiming that any research studies prove this or that it brings EVERYONE out of shock, only that SOME of us did obtain rather amazing results, an accurate statement).

PERSON:  Really?

Now the person will usually do one of two things –– they will not ask any more about the subject and I won’t push because truly I don't care what they do (I am only doing my duty by informing them of EFT) or they will ask for more information in which case I will give it to them roughly as follows:

ME: The method I use is called EFT, that’s short for Emotional Freedom Techniques.  It’s so easy to learn that almost anyone can use it and it’s wonderful."

You will notice that I mentioned the use of EFT for disasters or other severe traumas, before I talked about its use for anxiety or anything else – although later I may mention more everyday uses.  Hearing about this is far more impressive to newcomers than learning about its everyday more common uses and it links the technique to history.  EFT now becomes connected in their minds with the impact of certain historical events.

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