EmotionalBuzz
the resource for meridian energy therapy
Can we create and meet change with an open heart, a supportive mind, peace, and clarity?
Can we meet change with peace and clarity? The answer is: yes! Especially with our understanding and use of energy psychology, for example EFT, energy medicine and other practical stress management techniques like the endorphin effect strategies. These tools and practical strategies not only help us to release stressors, they also help to create positive choices and bring balance and harmony into our lives.
by Ranjana Appoo
In almost all philosophical outlooks change is seen as the constant. From before birth, during birth and after birth the nature of our embodied existence is change. From cellular structures to fingers and toes to menstruation, pregnancy, dentures and walking sticks we are constantly experiencing change. And yet we resist, fight change. We are not great at coping with change. I wonder what would happen in our lives and our experience of life if we could meet change with an open heart, a supportive mind, peace and clarity.
The most important characteristic of our present society may well be the incredible speed with which it changes. We now know that change in our lives is a constant; this does not stop us from being resistant to change or, more accurately, stressed by change. EFT and similar therapies can be seen as a solution to this growing progress anxiety.
In 1967, psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe examined the medical records of more than 5,000 medical patients as a way to determine whether stressful events might cause illnesses. Patients were asked to tally a list of 43 life events based on a relative score. A positive correlation of 0.118 was found between their life events and their illnesses.
Their results were published as the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS), known more commonly as the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale. Subsequent validation has supported the links between stress and illness. At the end of this article is a link for the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (Life Change Scale) so you can rate yourself. To see where you stand, simply total the number of stress points you have accumulated in the last year. Then, check your score. Note that both pleasant and unpleasant life events can cause stress. Notice how outstanding personal achievement is as stressful as trouble with in-laws, and a child leaving home (marriage, attending college) is as stressful as change in responsibilities at work (promotion, demotion, transfer) or that being fired is as stressful as marital reconciliation. For the experienced EFT practitioner this makes a lot of sense because they see time and time again how their clients resist and at times fight change, the client may feel that change does feel safe, or that they do not deserve the good fortune that change brings or that they are simply unaware of the unconscious drivers that sabotage beneficial change in order to avoid stress.
So whether things evolve in a positive or in a negative way; change itself constitutes a problem, change itself is stressful. Scientific, technological, cultural and social innovation are taking place at such a breath-taking pace that no one can really keep up with them. Yesterday’s revolutionary new product has become common-place today, and will be outdated tomorrow. People constantly need to revise their skills in order to adapt to the changing circumstances. The problems of unemployment and growing disparity between richer and poorer classes in most western nations are largely due to the fact that not everybody can cope as well with this need for constant re-education. As traditional agricultural and industrial jobs are disappearing, employees need to adapt to the intellectually much more demanding jobs of the information society. Many lack the necessary educational background. Even the intellectually most advanced groups, the researchers, educators, managers and technologists, often feel overwhelmed by the changes in their domain. And this creates stress which the World Health Organization has labeled as a world wide epidemic.
I heard a colleague of mine say that it was possible for his great grandfather to live an entire lifetime without having anything come along that seriously challenged his world-view. His grandfather had a different experience. He was able to live 30 or more years without being confronted by information that would challenge his world-view, and his father probably had to deal with changing how he experienced the world every 15 years. In his own lifetime the cycle of change seemed to take place within 5 to 8 years and this continues to reduce. He can only imagine how fast change will be occurring for his children. Knowing this it is not surprising that so many people are beginning to experience meltdowns, anxiety and stress.
The instinctive reaction of an animal to stressful situations falls into three main categories: fight, flight or fright. The same inherited reactions seem to underlie our negative emotions. The fight reaction is associated with anger and aggression. Flight corresponds to fear and anxiety. Fright is the reaction of an animal that freezes or plays dead in the face of uncontrollable danger. The corresponding human emotions seem to be numbing apathy, despair and depression, which are all characterised by helplessness. Aggression is a short term reaction, which although destructive, cannot be sustained very long. Anxiety and fear, however, can be constantly present. Fear is directed at a specific, frightening target, whereas anxiety is a generalised expectation that bad things may happen. This is considered as the most likely response to the continuing experience of unpredictable and uncontrollable change. Apathy and depression are more likely to be the outcome of a long process of failed attempts to control the stressful situation.
In the EFT community there has also been upheaval, rapid progress, change and more change. We have seen the birth of many different ways of using EFT, Gary Craig change his position in relation to workshops, certification and to finally retire, and that too is uncertain, The AAMET, (Association for the Advancement of Meridian Energy Therapies) changed its policies in order to become more professional to keep in line with the changing times.
It seems that the biggest problem facing present-day society is not that there is too little progress, but rather too much of it. Our mind, physiology and social structures are stretched with such a rate of change and such an amount of new information. Unfortunately, change, complexity and information overload are abstract phenomena, which are difficult to grasp. Therefore, few people have as yet understood the effects of constant change. With investigation, stress relief strategies and EFT we can completely change our vibration and approach to change. As we change and are changed by our circumstances, understanding, new information we can teach our mind-body to release stress and become open to clarity and peace. Most of all we can strengthen our self confidence and awareness in an underlying permanence, a foundational order in the midst of chaos so that we can integrate change with peace. Now that is a really intriguing idea!!
Martine Moorby and I have been studying the Alchemy of Change for some time now; how we can consciously transform our resistance to change into delight and openness. How we can create the kind of change that makes our heart sing. We have observed that people often focus on the transformative process of suffering and not on the transformative nature of joy, this is rarely studied and joy as a transformative agent not only creates change in our lives but ripples out in ways that defy boundaries. We will be sharing all this and more in June. I do hope you will be able to make it.
For those of you that need something more immediate to help you experience change with clarity, I recommend the Emotional Toothbrush Series, there you will find two audios called Resistance to Change and Clearing Resistance. They are free to download and are available to you now. Do check out the Emotional Toothbrush guide before you listen to them.
Below is a short EFT sequence to help you transform your vibration from stress about change to positive anticipation.
Write down three things you are most afraid of changing, want to avoid, or hate. This part can be a difficult process, but can lead to an experience of feeling liberated.
Tap with this setup, “Even though I am afraid of / avoid.........and I have good reason to feel this way, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”
Then complete one round of tapping on “I am afraid of / avoid..... and these are my reasons (relate the reasons)......”
Then tap with this setup, “Even though I am afraid of / avoid.............what if I could look forward to this happening and was no longer afraid of it.”
Then complete one round of tapping on “What if I felt free of this fear of change, I look forward to feeling open to all of life and all the opportunities coming my way with a peaceful heart...”
“A mortal lives not through that breath that flows in and that flows out. The source of his life is another and this causes the breath to flow.” Paracelsus
If you are interested in finding out more about Change and how to be relaxed with Change you may be interested in the Workshop: The Alchemy of Change with Ranjana Appoo and Martine Moorby
The important thing is to be able at any moment to sacrifice what you are for what you could become. Charles Dubois
Rate yourself on The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (Life Change Scale).
With love and tapping joy,
Ranjana
Ranjana Appoo is the co founder of the Emotional Health Centre, and the creator of the Emotional Toothbrush Series, a free audio and video resource for healing the mind and freeing the heart. She will be sharing more innovative ways to raising your vibration with EFT in two groundbreaking workshops: The Return to Joy and The Alchemy of Change.