Recently Dr Patricia Carrington wrote about the benefits of having clients make and affirm life choices after completion of therapy.
Added Jul 6, 2001
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Whilst we are not fans of affirmations, we realised that although Pat was asking people to make affirmations, by wording these statements as choices, she was able to negate the unconscious resistance which might otherwise have ensued.
You can try this for yourself to get experience the contrasting effect: think of something you want to feel but currently do not. For instance, you might have a situation occurring in your life which "makes you angry" when you would rather feel powerful and maybe even "light" about it.
Try saying "I feel powerful and light." and notice how that feels. For most of us, if this is not true, we will actually feel something that is like a kinesthetic "no way!" A lot like the feeling you get when you see a word misspelled.
Now try saying "I choose to feel powerful and light." and notice how that feels. For most of us, we will not get that feeling of resistance because the statement is now true. We don't have to feel powerful and light in order to choose to do so.
Immediately we read Pat's article, we thought this should be incorporated in the EFT setup. For example, "Even though I'm mad as hell at X, I choose to feel powerful and light." The rounds will be as usual, simply repeating the negative "this mad as hell feeling" (ie, no need for alternate phrase technique). Interestingly, this method of using a choice in the setup had not occurred to Pat and she was keen to hear of our experience with it.
I hope you're curious to try this out and especially hoping you'll let me know how it goes for you. We've since shared this innovation with Pat and many others and frankly, we're stunned by the effectiveness.
Here's some examples:
A client distressed about strong somatisation of emotional issues. "Even though I have this moving in the back of my head, I choose to heal this right here right now." Gone in one round.
A client with longstanding referred pain in head and especially left eye. "Even though I have my headache, I choose to feel relaxed and balanced." Gone in one round.
Client very unsure of herself in a conflict situation - would normally get enraged or withdraw. "Even though 'what's happening' I choose to feel light and free." One round only over the phone and subsequently dealt with a serious conflict with great ease and personal presence, much to her amazement.
Self (Christine), suffering terrible nausea and gastric upset after viral infection and stuck driving on a busy freeway. "Even though I feel so sick in the guts (not pretty, I know :-) I choose to feel absolutely fabulous." Eased immediately and completely gone by the time I got home.
In common with all of these is not only that the problem was expressed in the client's own idiosyncratic language, so was the "choice". The wording of the choice absolutely does not have to seem appropriate or relevant -- it's just something that seems to automatically pop into the client's head as you start talking about opposites. Don't get into the logic trap; just use what comes up.
Added Jul 6, 2001
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