Often, when we feel stress, we pin it on someone or something. Oh, it must be my boss, my spouse, my kid, my weight, my job or my lack of sleep.
Then, we focus on that issue because we believe that is the problem.
What if you were wrong?
What if it wasn’t your job that was causing you stress, but a tragedy that you caught a glimpse on the news? It barely registered in your awareness, but now was unknowingly affecting you.
How can you resolve something that isn’t even in your awareness but is causing you upset?
If you are having trouble following me, here is a recent example from my life.
I woke up and I felt a tugging in the pit of my stomach. My mood was off. I felt bothered. Immediately, I attributed it to stress around not being able to make a business decision. I started strategizing what I could do during the day to find a resolution. I still felt off.
I decided to use Emotional Freedom Technique [EFT] to see if I could clear the worry out of my body and energy field. Basically in EFT, one taps with their fingers on certain Chinese meridian points while focusing on negative thoughts, beliefs or emotions.
I never was crazy about EFT. I attended a day long seminar and met people who swore by EFT. However, I noticed that some of the long-term proponents of EFT lacked a sparkle in their eyes. As someone who reads energy professionally, I sensed that EFT was not clearing very deep, core issues (at least for these people).
I thought I would give EFT another chance and started reading The Tapping Solution by Nick Ortner. Often, I noticed that I start tapping about one bothersome subject and then suddenly another unrelated issue pops into my mind.
That is what happened this morning. I started tapping around feeling stuck on a particular area of my business and suddenly a big fear surfaced around losing my son.
As I tapped, emotions swelled as I felt my fear of losing him and never seeing him again. I did 2 rounds of tapping around that and the feelings cleared. I no longer felt the pulling sensation in my stomach.
The night before I had two dreams where I lost my son. The dreams were not dramatic or emotional. I wasn’t searching for him, but I knew that he was not here. Upon awakening, I jotted that down along with other dreams that I had. I had no idea that I was upset about those dreams at all.
The point is that we think we are upset about the things that are front and center in our life. Yes, maybe that is true. But, there is much more beneath the surface.
The subconscious thoughts, emotions and beliefs are the Hidden Programs that run our lives.
Truthfully, every parent fears losing a child. When we hear of mothers and fathers losing their beloved babies, we hope we may never have to suffer their heartbreaking pain.
However, it is in the awareness of knowing myself deeply that I can make clearer parenting choices for my son that do not stem from my fears.
If a subconscious fear is running my decisions, then maybe I would keep my son home more. Maybe I would baby him or be clingy. Maybe I would be overly involved in minute details of his life.
Delving into the often unpredictable, subconscious material can shift your life dramatically in the moment and long-term. A technique like EFT can help you in discovering what is hidden beneath your awareness.
Try it and let me know how it works for you.