Week 3: Clearing Old Emotional Memories

Last week, you learned to use EFT for a situation or person that bothered you recently. You probably experienced a reduction in emotional intensity. However, EFT has much more to offer you than reducing the intensity of current upset. The most effective way to use EFT is to trace your present-day upsets back to their roots, which are usually in childhood.

The reason that certain people or situations bother you today is almost always because they remind your brain of a similar situation that occurred very early. For instance, a doctor attending one EFT workshop had a broken wrist. She’d broken her wrist while on a hike with her daughter a few weeks earlier. She had resentment toward her daughter for pushing her to go on the hike, when she’d felt like resting instead. When she tuned in to her body, and looked for the earliest time she’d felt that way, she remembered an incident in which her father had criticized her school report card. We tapped on the incident with her father till her SUD (subjective units of distress) level went down to 0. At that point, the resentment toward her daughter had dropped to a 0 too. Best of all, her pain intensity had gone from an 8 to a 2.

Childhood traumas are like templates. When a current event fits the template, our brain’s stress machinery springs to life. When you reduce the emotional intensity of the childhood memory with EFT, the intensity of all the later memories that fit the template usually collapses.

This week, we’re going to apply EFT to a childhood memory. I also have another bonus audio for you. I work with Mary Kathryn. Just like you, she’s a participant in this Fibroclear program. She has sciatica and many other symptoms in addition to pain and fatigue. We uncover childhood events that led her to develop the core belief that, “My needs don’t matter.” She’s always taking care of other people, rather than herself. Listen and tap along as we work on her problems, and you’ll be amazed at how completely her symptoms shift as we clear the trauma from her childhood memories.

How EFT Can Heal Old Childhood Memories

Using EFT to heal old childhood memories can have profoundly positive effects on your current health. For example, many people with fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue feel ashamed or embarrassed at how difficult it can be for them to summon the energy to accomplish even the basic tasks of daily life. Childhood incidents of shame or embarrassment may be contributing to these feelings in the present day.

Using EFT to remove the emotional intensity of that early shame and embarrassment can heal the old childhood memories and reduce or remove entirely any current shame or embarrassment associated with having chronic health problems. Tapping the EFT points as you think of one of these incidents and feel how you felt then clears the emotional charge you have been carrying and leaves you able to respond to your current situation without the emotional influence of the past. Old childhood memories may even be at the root of your fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue itself. Using EFT to tap through and heal the old childhood memories can improve or even resolve your current health condition.

You might have heard similar stories from other members of the EFT Fibromyalgia/CFS Support Group. We’d like to support your optimism with as many positive success stories as possible.

Clearing One of Your Childhood Memories with EFT

Think back over the last week or two to an event, incident, or time when you found yourself feeling a lot of emotion. Perhaps you were unable to do an activity you love or your son questioned why you couldn’t do a certain task, and you suddenly found yourself filled with rage or were overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness. You need not recall what triggered the feelings at the time, however. The feelings are what we’re going to focus on here. Get back in touch with the rage, helplessness, or other emotion you experienced. When you can feel the emotion again, identify where in your body it is located. Do you feel the rage in your chest? Do you feel the helplessness in the pit of your stomach?

Hold onto that feeling as you think back to your childhood. Identify the earliest specific event you can recall when you felt that same way in your body. For example, the first time you experienced that rage in your chest may have been when your older brother held you down and wouldn’t stop tickling you even when you kept yelling at him to stop. Or the first time you felt that sense of helplessness in the pit of your stomach was when your parents told you they were getting a divorce.

What was your memory? Write it (be brief) in the space below:

_______________________________

Before you start tapping, take a moment to assess your feelings as you remember this childhood event. Use the 0 to 10 SUD (subjective units of distress) scale. How strong is your emotional reaction to the memory right now? Give it a number, and write down that number using the scale below.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Also, identify a place in your body where you feel that emotion most strongly. It might be your forehead, your shoulders, or your heart. Write down the location in your body of this strong emotion:

_______________________________

So far, so good! Here’s your Setup Statement:

“Even though (name the problem described above), I deeply and completely accept myself.”

Say this three times while tapping on the Karate Chop point on the side of your hand.

Now look at the illustration showing EFT’s 12 acupoints, and tap lightly 7 to 10 times with two fingertips on each point. While tapping, focus on the problem:(interactive software feature adds the problem description from above).

A Second Helping of EFT

Now let’s do EFT again, but with a slightly different Setup Statement. Most people experience a reduction in the intensity of the problem, so we’ll modify the Setup Statement accordingly.

“Even though I still have some strong feelings about (Interactive feature adds the problem from above), I deeply and completely accept myself.”

Say this three times while tapping on the side of your hand.

Now tap lightly 7 to 10 times with two fingertips on each point. While tapping, stay focused on your problem.

A Final Round of EFT

You might still have some remaining SUD (subjective units of distress) intensity, so for good measure, let’s try EFT again.

“Even though I still have some remaining feelings about (Interactive feature adds the problem from above), I deeply and completely accept myself.”

Say this three times while tapping on the side of your hand.

Now tap lightly 7 to 10 times with two fingertips on each point. While tapping, stay focused on your problem.

Measuring Your Results

Think about the problem again, and tune in to your (body part). Using the same scale from 0 to 10, with 0 being no emotional intensity, and 10 being the highest possible, click the button below that represents your number:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Congratulations! You wrote down your first number just a few minutes ago. Your level of emotional intensity just went down by (calculate your improvement by your second number divided by your first number and then multiply the answer x 100) percent, even though you’ve carried that memory since childhood!

Looking for Childhood Templates for Current Upsets

This next week, practice looking for childhood templates every time you feel upset. Rather than assuming that the situation bothering you is the real problem, look deeper. Think back to the very first time you felt that way in your body, just the way you did in the exercise above. Find a childhood incident where you felt that way, and tap on it until your emotional intensity is 0.

If you feel like it, pick another childhood memory right now, and repeat the above procedure.

Keep tapping morning and evening too. Just 10 minutes of EFT to start the day, and another 10 minutes to end it, can help with sleep and energy levels.