Emotional Pain Lands IN the Body!

"BALANCING THE EMOTIONS 'Any imbalance in an emotional state - when one emotion dominates or overrides the others - can predispose one to heart disease,' says Frank Lipman, MD, an integrative physician, board-certified internist, and licensed acupuncturist. 'Learning to deal with emotions is extremely important.' But studying these emotional states is difficult, concedes Lipman, 'It's not something you can measure easily.' Nonetheless, emotions can get stuck in the body. When you release these emotional holding patterns physically, he says, you're releasing emotional states, as well.' Lipman has facilitated these releases in patients through acupuncture. He also refers some patients to body workers and healers, who are able to shift energy in the body." https://www.webmd.com/depression/features/many-emotions-can-damage-heart Want help moving those painful emotional states? Email me for a Christian EFT practitioner referral - we have practitioners in several countries in a couple continents! Sherrie Rice Smith Certified EFT Practitioner EFTforChristians.com Author of EFT for Christians 5 Book Series

Epigenetics and EFT

As I often do, I pulled out a copy of paragraphs of an article to comment on, but please read it in its entirety. It's not that long.

"We often do not take into account that epigenetically it has been shown that a father’s sperm literally carries the genetic residue of his traumatic experiences in addition to the life experiences of a mother who is carrying the eggs of her yet preconceived child. He references the traumatic lineage of affecting three generations with a singular traumatic event that is fascinating to really take into account."

My comment: This always amazes me as it confirms Scripture of the Exodus and Numbers references to the "sins of the fathers". Sins of the fathers isn't necessarily sins but epigenetic residues tagged ONTO DNA. DNA (gene) doesn't change, but they get tagged with a protein that marks them as important genetic information and is then passed down the generations. Some day I will take time and do a study of the OT word "sin" to see what God really meant here!

"Here are some questions from Mark’s book that you might ask yourself:

• Could you be feeling like, behaving like, suffering like, atoning for, or carrying the grief for someone who came before you?

• Do you have symptoms, feeling, or behaviors that are difficult to explain in the context of your life experience?

• Was there a trauma in the family (an early death of a parent, child, sibling or an abandonment, murder, crime, or suicide etc.), an event that was too terrible, painful or shameful to talk about?

• Could you be connected with that event, living a life similar to the person no one talks about?

• Could you be reliving this family member’s trauma as though it were your own? These kind of questions have us looking beyond our own life experiences and begin the expanded view of looking to how, for a variety of reasons, we have taken on a mission that in a sense has nothing to do with us."

My comment: When one understands emotionally that some of these questions are true in his or her life, most likely a Christian EFT Practitioner's help will be needed to dig to the bottom of the pain.

"Words act as carrier pigeons from the unconscious, fluttering forth with messages that need to be revealed, be it in metaphor or language that feels somehow estranged or belonging to another’s life experience."

My comment: I love this paragraph because METAPHORS and our OFT REPEATED comments or statements (or those of our family members) frequently give clues to what lies beneath the emotional surface. Pay attention to WHAT you say. If you have a saying you repeat over and over, tap and dig below it. Find why it is an important thing stuck in your vocabulary! And take some time this holiday season to ask older family members what life experiences they have had and what family stories they have been told. You might receive a greater gift that will expand your emotional healing than you ever imagined possible! God bless your healing!!

Remember, EFT is not a substitute for sound medical care, so please contact your own personal physician when you feel medical or psychological care is needed.

Sherrie Rice Smith

Certified EFT Practitioner

EFTforChristians.com

Author of EFT for Christians 5 Book Series

Childhood Trauma & EFT

Dr. Gabor Mate in his book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts on page 370 writes, "it's not what happened in the past that creates our present misery but the way we have allowed past events to define how we are and experience ourselves in the present.

The greatest damage done by neglect, trauma, or emotional loss is not the immediate pain they inflict but the long-term distortions they induce in the way a developing child will continue to interpret the world and her situation in it. All too often these ill-conditioned implicit ((those held unconsciously) beliefs become self-fulfilling prophecies in our lives. We create meanings from our unconscious interpretations of early events, and then we forge our present experiences from the meanings we've created."

Christian EFT is a tool we can use to learn to live in the present moment, allowing those events and memories of the past to integrate into our soul to harmoniously abide with other happier memories. 

Your past does no longer HAVE to drive your future. Call a Christian EFT Practitoner today.

Remember, EFT is not a substitute for medical or psychological help. Take care of yourself and phone your own personal physician.

Sherrie Rice Smith, R.N. (Retired)

EFTforChristians.com

EFTforChristians@gmail.com

Author of EFT for Christians (2015)

Author of EFT for Christians, Tapping in God's Peace & Joy (2016)

Tapping Emotional Triggers EFT for Christians YouTube Video

EFT for Christians presents a video on how to tap on emotional triggers. 

Remember, EFT is not a substitute for sound medical advice or care, so please contact your own personal physician when psychological or physical help is needed.

Sherrie Rice Smith

Certified EFT Practitioner

EFTforChristians.com

Author of EFT for Christians 4 Book Series

Tapping and Changing Habits in OurselvesThat We Don't Like

This EFT for Christians Instructional video is about changing habits in ourselves that we don’t like!

Remember, EFT is a substitute for good medical care, so contact your own physician when medical or psychological care is needed.

Sherrie Rice Smith

Certified EFT Practitioner

EFTforChristians.com

Author of EFT for Christians 5 Book Series

EFT for Christians Video # 30: What Happens When You Begin toTap?

Here is another EFT for Christians YouTube instructional video:  EFT for Christians Video # 30: What Happens When You Begin to Tap?

 Remember, EFT is not a substitute for sound medical or psychological care. Please call your own personal physician and take responsibility for your own emotional and physical health.

Please subscribe to my EFT for Christians YouTube Channel to get notified about all new YouTube EFT videos as they are produced.

Blessings in our Risen Savior!

Sherrie Rice Smith
Author of the EFT for Christians series found on Amazon.com 

EFT for Christians Video # 37: Personal Tapping Session Example

Often I get requests asking to SHOW how to do Christian EFT.

I've recorded short personal tapping session here as an example.

Any questions? Email me!

Blessings in our Lord Jesus to you & your family!

Sherrie

Sherrie Rice Smith

Certified EFT Practitioner

EFTforChristians.com

Author of EFT for Christians Tapping in God's Peace & Joy (2016)

Author of EFT for Christians Advanced  (2017)

Author of EFT for Christians 52 Tapping Devotions (Christmas, 2017)

Author of EFT for Christians Devotions (Christmas, 2020)

Use Promo Code SAVE20 when ordering from Publisher to get 20% Off

Just Tap!

Awhile ago some long time EFT practitioner accused me of tapping too much.

I took that to heart....for a short while, wondering if there was something wrong with just tapping to tap.

Now, I'm an indefatigable tapper, as are many other Christians I know!

Why?  If, as the research now shows, an hour of tapping just to tap lowers cortisol levels 24% at least, why not tap?

All of us could use lower cortisol levels!  We know high cortisol is NOT a good thing.  It hardens our arteries, wears out our heart, causes tons of diseases such as diabetes and cancer.

Tapping isn't just lowering cortisol though. It also lowers many of the other chemicals in our bodies that contribute to these same above problems.

I tap when I pray, I tap when I do my devotions, I tap in church, I tap while I drive,  I tap while I watch TV or a movie, I tap while I walk. I just tap.

God instilled in us an amazing healing capacity, so why not use it?  If God put that mechanism in there, He must have done so to help us.

Join me!  Tap!

Remember, EFT is NOT a substitute for medical care.  Take responsibility for all of your own personal medical needs. Call a doctor when you think you must do so.

Sherrie Rice Smith, R.N. (Retired)
Certified EFT Practitioner
Author EFT for Christians series on Amazon

Tapping & Metaphors

I liked this comment from Dr. Peter Levine about working with trauma, "The organism uses what it already knows to describe what it is experiencing. Don't take it literally. A sensation can feel like it is fuzzy, jagged, made of glass, wood, or plastic. Obviously, 'feel like' is the key part of the description. There isn't anything inside you that is really fuzzy or jagged, unless you have suffered some very poorly executed surgical procedures. The sensations just feel like these things. THEY ARE METAPHORS [my emphasis]. Sensations, however, can also be literal and correspond with information received from organs, bones, and muscles."

He goes on to explain that many of our memories are composits of multiple memories.

As we all learned in EFT class, the truth of memories is irrelevant just like the descriptions probably aren't literal. It is how it all FEELS that is important and the tapping changes those feelings into something more positive, neutralizing the negative implications in the process.

It allows us once again to become alive, spontaneous, ready to explore life as we once did as kids, enjoying every single moment as we step into that present mindfulness!

Please keep tapping!

Remember, EFT is not a substitute for sound medical advice, so please take care of yourself and call your own personal physician when necessary!

Sherrie Rice Smith, R.N. (Retired)

EFTforChristians.com

Author of 3 EFT for Christians books

EFTforChristians@gmail.com 

Outcomes

EFT is an amazing tool to allow us to stop carrying emotional loads that we need to simply let go and let God handle.

Often we are too vested in other peoples' outcomes when those outcomes aren't up to us.

Tapping helps us divest ourselves of holding ourselves responsible for other peoples' actions, thoughts and habitual behaviors.

Let God handle it. Tap!

EFT is not a substitute for standard medical or psychological care, so please consult your own personal physician when needed.

Sherrie Rice Smith, R.N. (Retired)

Certified EFT Practitioner

EFTforChristians.com

Author of EFT for Christians (2015)

Author of EFT for Christians, Tapping in God's Peace & Joy (2016)

Author of EFT for Christians Advanced (2017)

EFT for Christians Video #35 Forgiveness

Forgiveness is the root of where we desire to go as Christians.

Jesus commands that we forgive all of our debtors which includes anyone who has harmed us in any way.

Forgiveness towards others must come if we expect to heal. We cannot heal when we carry around deep feelings of resentment, hatred, and anger.

Here is a video based on Devotion #16 in the EFT for Christians 52 Tapping Devotions book published for Christmas, 2017.

EFT for Christians Video # 35 Forgiveness

Remember, EFT is not a substitute for sound medical or psychological care, so please consult your own personal physicians when those needs arise.

Sherrie Rice Smith

Certified EFT Practitioner

EFTforChristians.com

Author of EFT for Christians Tapping in God's Peace & Joy (2016)

Author of EFT for Christians Advanced  (2017)

Author of EFT for Christians 52 Tapping Devotions (Christmas, 2017)

Author of EFT for Christians Devotions (Christmas, 2018)

Use Promo Code SAVE20 when ordering from Publisher to get 20% Off

What are Emotional Triggers?

Emotional triggers consists of thoughts, memories, or physical sensations that provoke an automatic underlying response in us. It just happens without any conscious thinking. A trigger does exactly what the word implies - it "triggers" us into a flashback type sensation or an automatic response that feels nearly exactly like the feelings we experience at the time the original trauma, abuse, or negative event occurred. It feels like we are re-experiencing the memory all over again.

The subconscious mind buries many deep painfully emotional memories for us for several decades after it happens, especially abuse memories, and in particular sexual abuse memories.

This is a protective mechanism instilled in us at creation. God knew we couldn't handle the fall-out at age 3 or 8 or 14, or any other age for that matter, when the event occurred, so it all gets buried.

Burying the hurtful memories (and that well could be a mild word - hurtful) sounds like a great idea!

It was in that moment, but TODAY those memories are running a chronic STRESS response behind the our conscious awareness. Our bodies weren't created to deal with ongoing chronic stress.

Eventually the emotional stress breaks down our body. The ongoing tension has to go somewhere if it isn't released.

It's kinda like a spring. It is designed to do a job but eventually it wears out and something breaks!

Tap, tap, tap!

We must settle down our emotional & physical mind. We must re-regulate ourselves. The Holy Spirit is right there with you to help. We must turn off the decades' old alarm bells, and triggers are those old alarm bells STILL ringing!

Triggers are messages from the Holy Spirit alerting us that there is still old faulty emotional information running behind the scene of our conscious mind.

He will bring to mind whatever memories need to be tapped on WHEN HE KNOWS YOU ARE READY AND CAN EMOTIONALLY HANDLE IT.

For those of us who have experienced very early emotional abuse, it may take months or years of sitting with the uncomfortable feelings and tapping. I often hear women say that they felt better after an hour of tapping, but then the "feelings came back." Yes, they do. This doesn't mean that your tapping and praying was wasted, it just means there is much more to do. Keep at it. Eventually the amygdala (alarm center) tends to settle down. It sometimes takes a lot of soothing to convince it that you are now safe.

Remember, EFT is NOT a substitute of good medical or psychological care, so take care of yourself by contacting your personal physician please.

Sherrie Rice Smith

Certified EFT Practitioner

EFTforChristians.com

Author of EFT for Christians 4 Book Series

Use Promo Code SAVE20 when ordering from Publisher to get 20% Off

Can EFT Help Physical Problems, too?

"Not only can EFT improve psychological problems, it can improve physical symptoms too. How it that possible?

There is a strong association between emotional stress and disease. A study of 17,421 adults performed by a hospital chain, Kaiser Permanente, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) looked at the relationship between their adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and disease (Felitti, et.al., 1998). ACEs were events like the divorce of their parents, an incarcerated parent, or an addicted parent. The ACE study found that those who had the highest amount of emotional trauma as children had higher rates of many disease as adults. Those diseases included cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes. The authors of the study likened the medical establishment to fire fighters who direct all their water at the smoke (physical disease) while ignoring the flames underneath (unresolved emotional trauma).

That is not to say that physical disease is entirely psychological in origin. What it does indicate is that a lifetime of carrying the burden of trauma takes a toll on our bodies. When people use EFT for physical problems, they are releasing the emotional memories associated with the symptom. Once those memories don't hurt anymore, the stress response is reduced, and the body has a chance to heal."

EFT for Christians (original book), page 67

EFT is not a substitute for good medical care, so please consult with your own personal physicians when you deem medical help is needed.

Sherrie Rice Smith

Certified EFT Practitioner

EFTforChristians.com

Author of EFT for Christians 4 Book Series

Use Promo Code SAVE20 when ordering from Publisher to get 20% Off

Tapping Postively Doesn't Work

"Tapping negatively is heavy-duty work. We have heard for decades to repeat positive affirmations about ourselves and situations around us. Dr. Gabor Mate explains why positive affirmations simply don’t work:

As Dr. Michael Kerr points out, 'compulsive optimism is one of the ways we bind our anxiety to avoid confronting it. That form of positive thinking is the coping mechanism of the hurt child. The adult who remains hurt without being aware of it makes this residual defence of the hurt into a life principle.'

He continues, 'Even more fundamentally, not posing those questions is itself a source of stress (author’s emphasis). First, 'positive thinking’ is based on an unconscious belief that we are not strong enough to handle reality. Allowing this fear to dominate engenders a state of childhood apprehension. Whether or not the apprehension is conscious, it is a state of stress.'" (Mate, When the Body Says NO, 244–24)

Excerpt page145 EFT from Christians Advanced

EFT is not a substitute for good medical care, so please seek that for yourself, if you have need of psychological or medical care.

Sherrie Rice Smith

Certified EFT Practitioner

EFTforChristians.com

Author of EFT for Christians Tapping in God's Peace & Joy (2016)

Author of EFT for Christians Advanced (2017)

Author of EFTforChristians 52 Tapping Devotions (Christmas, 2017)

Use Promo Code SAVE20 to get 20% Off 

Tapping Specifically Article

Good article from Andy Hunt! Tapping SPECIFICALLY is what is necessary to get the emotional job of neutralizing our negative feelings done.

I want to make one rather BIG and important addition.

In Step 5, last 2 sentences Andy writes, "For example: “Even though they are looking critically at me, I accept myself and how I feel”, etc. The aspect may yield to simple tapping or you may need to track back to memories of similar feelings to neutralise the source of the aspect."

The Set-up statement he uses as his example is, IMHO, still wayyyyyy too broad to be tapped on. It is imperative to "track back to memories" to get the tapping job done effectively.

If a client came to me and told me that exact same sentence "they are looking critically at me," wanting to tap on that issue, I would continue questioning the client asking, "When was a time when you felt as though someone was looking at you critically? Give me a concrete example."

That should afford the client the opportunity to respond with a statement such as, "Well, when I was 13 years old I had to stand up in class, and Mrs. Schmidt gave me the evil eye while I gave my report on the Battle of Gettysburg."

That's a pretty specific time "when" the client thought she was looked upon critically. I might even go on further to get even more specific by asking, "How do you feel now when thinking about that evil eye back then?" or "What exactly did Mrs. Schmidt evil eye look like to you and did you feel about that?"

When tapping we are digging for "emotions" to tap about? Facts are good, but facts aren't feelings, they are facts! Always, always ask yourself (or the client) how they "FEEL" about something they have just told you. They hopefully can tell you 2 things: (1) give the "feeling" an emotional name, such as sadness, anger, remorse, guilt, disdain, discouraged, dismissed, un-validated, ignored, etc. Most anything can be a "feeling" by simply adding the word "feeling" to the client or your words! (2) Hopefully the client (or yourself) can tell you WHERE (gut, head, eyes, shoulder, thigh, chest, heart, etc.) in their body they feel the "feeling" or emotion resides.

This information is ALL that is necessary for tapping specificity.

Here's what my classroom report Set-up and tapping might look like using the steps above:

"Even though I remember the time when I was 13 and I gave that Gettysburg report in Mrs. Schmidt's class, and she gave me the evil eye, right now I feel anger in my left chest, a tightening feeling, I deeply and completely, etc. - finish the acceptance statement. THAT IS SPECIFIC!

The reminder tapping statements would simply be: "this anger" or "this anger in my chest." Continue tapping those simple reminder statements on the acupuncture spots until the SUDS drops out to zero!

Go onto the next memory of the time when you felt you were looked at critically, and repeat the process.

When a client or yourself comes in with a broad statement such as "I'm looked at critically" there is probably a huge core issue underneath around self-esteem, etc.

Core issues take more work than just a few individual memories because a client's entire life viewpoint could well be built around that one thought (and sadly many of us have dozens of core issues we need to work on!)

That example I just typed about being 13 years old should give any experienced self-tapper or EFT Practitioner plenty of tapping material if the client has a core issue around the example.

There are probably 100s of other questions that can be asked. It's detective work! But the questions need to be specific while digging for feelings.

Once this memory/incident is tapped to a 0 SUDS, ask yourself or the client, "Do you have another memory of a time when you got a critical look, or a time when something similar happened?"

You continue to repeat this process until the problem is no longer the problem!

I will admit, and this is WHY I've written 4 EFT for Christians books, that any tapping questioning can go in a multitude of directions whereby you find dozens of other thoughts/feelings/events in life that need to be tapped about.

Sometimes the line of questioning gets bogged down or the client/yourself shuts down, and then you can use the advice I give you that I have already written out in detail in the EFT for Christians books.

Wonderfully written article by Andy. My opinion is the more specific we get in our tapping makes EFT so very much more effective.

God be praised!

Remember, EFT is NOT a substitute for sound medical or psychological advice, so contact your own personal physician if you have such needs as these!

Sherrie Rice Smith

Certified EFT Practitioner

EFTforChristians.com

Author of EFT for Christians Tapping in God's Peace & Joy (2016)

Author of EFT for Christians Advanced  (2017)

Author of EFT for Christians 52 Tapping Devotions (Christmas, 2017)

Author of EFT for Christians Devotions (Christmas, 2020)

Use Promo Code SAVE20 when ordering from Publisher to get 20% Off

52 Tapping Devotions #8 - 1 Corinthians 10:13

Devotion # 8 in EFT for Christians 52 Tapping Devotions I used 1 Corinthians 10:13 as the text.

As a R.N. I don't claim to be a Scripture expert!

But it was gratifying to see the translator of The Passion Translation to write out this verse as I "interpreted" it!

Here is TPT version of 1 Corinthians 1:13, "We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously."

Exactly!!! God has our lives completely under control even if we feel anything but overwhelm! He allows us these emotions and events and memories so we turn to Him for help.

In this day and age, EFT might be that help. EFT actually works, if it is used often and properly. Anecdotal stories abound of its efficacy! 100+ research studies prove that it works.

And our Lord promises He has already created a way out of our life's troubles.

If you are still CONSIDERING tapping, maybe time has arrived for you to commit to actually doing the process.

The 52 Tapping Devotion book, as well as the other books in the EFT for Christians series, can be found here: EFT for Christians Book Store

We are here to help in whatever way we can!

Blessings and know you are prayed for!

EFT is not a substitute for sound medical or psychological care, so please take care of yourself and call a physician when help is needed.

Sherrie Rice Smith

Certified EFT Practitioner

EFTforChristians.com

Author of EFT for Christians Tapping in God's Peace & Joy (2016)

Author of EFT for Christians Advanced  (2017)

Author of EFT for Christians 52 Tapping Devotions (Christmas, 2017)

Author of EFT for Christians Devotions (Christmas, 2020)

Use Promo Code SAVE20 when ordering from Publisher to get 20% Off

Prejudice & EFT

Prejudice is a fact-less and usually negative attitude toward members of a particular group. Common features of prejudice include negative feelings, stereotypical beliefs, and a tendency to discriminate against that group of people. Many definitions of prejudice exist, most of us pick up negative ideas of others based on generalizations from opinions from others, usually those in authority, or ones who are older and deemed wiser and more experienced than we are.

Prejudice can be based on just about anything including sex, race, age, sexual orientations, ethnic background, socioeconomic status, dress, educational background, and religious beliefs.

Most beliefs, including prejudices, are nothing more than arbitrary interpretations of another person’s viewpoints. Events happen around us in the world, but the meaning we give the events is our own personal perception of that event.  It’s these perceptions that shape our life and the actions, thoughts, and behaviors within that existence.

Please don’t misunderstand me. Some of our beliefs are needed to keep us safe.

Should we see a man (that’s an assumption, as I just as easily could have said a woman!) wielding a gun a half a block away, yelling at the top of his lungs about his rights being violated, we would have an immediate “perception” that the situation is not safe and we should duck behind a building until the police have that corridor under control.

We have made a correct assumption that the gun swinging man just might harm us. An incorrect assumption would be that all men of a certain skin color are threatening, whether they hold a gun or no. It’s even more prejudicial if we base that opinion on just this one incident.

Genesis 1:25-31 talks about creation of man. We were created in God’s image. The word Adam simply means “man”. It is not the specific name of the first male creature God created; therefore, there is a male man and a female man – Adam and Eve. They were created male and female for the perpetuation of the human race.

Deuteronomy 10:17, Job 34:19, Romans 2:11, and Acts 10:34 specifically state that God shows no partiality or favoritism. He loves us all no matter who we are or what we are. Galatians 3:38 clearly states, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

So, how do racial, sexual, ethnic, etc. prejudices get formed?

As an infant all our needs must be met by our parents or other caregivers, otherwise we will die. This care includes teaching us all that we need to know to survive in life from how to dress ourselves, eat good food, drive an automobile, act responsibly, how to interact with others, and all other opinions that we feel are unique to us and we came to form freely.

But did we form all those opinion freely? Research science shows clearly we didn’t do this thinking on our own – someone taught us. And some of that training, so to speak, can be epigenetic biases. Another article for another day!

Those opinions and thoughts about the world can come literally from anyone. Our parents, grandparents, older siblings, teachers, pastors, friends, and can include other gang members or people we meet hanging out on a street corner, including the local merchant. As we see behaviors of others played out in our life, we accept them as truth, whether they are moral or immoral behaviors. The filters through which we see those behaviors are based on what we learned early in life as children. It’s the patterns we acquired as we matured that play out later in life in our own behavior.

As children we learn red means stop and green means go. We just as easily learn that apples are yummy to eat, but pine cones really don’t taste too good. And so it is with prejudices. Prejudices are learned traits based on someone else’s opinion.

If someone in higher authority than you rants on about how awful German people are, you have no reason to disagree, and so you believe the well-read woman is correct. At that point, you file away a prejudice that German people are bad. Most likely, because that is “your opinion”, you will state it freely even though you have little reason or experience to know that “German people are awful” on a personal basis. In fact, you literally have no idea in your daily encounters who is German and who isn’t, but should someone state specifically that they are German, your guard, based on previous beliefs and teachings, will come up.

Your heart rate will rise, hearing become acute, listening for any dangerous signals the German person may make, breathing becomes more rapid, blood sugar rises, as does your blood pressure. This all happens unconsciously based on previous information someone else taught you.

Your amygdala just threw you into “Flight, Fight, and Freeze” mode, surging neurochemicals throughout your body based on those prior acquired perceptions. Specifically, you are ready to run or fight and you have no idea what just happened. Prejudicial thoughts just sabotaged your neurochemistry. And you may have no idea why it all just happened, until you investigate by asking yourself about the situation.

Once you get to know the “German” in your midst, you realize he poses no threat to you, and then your neurochemistry will settle down, as you relax.

But what happens when the “German” in your midst is not given a chance to “prove” himself a non-threatening person? This is where prejudice turns violent. We say things to the person we shouldn’t, bullying begins, fists start flying, and soon physical damage is done all based on someone else’s idea of who is good or bad.

As we look back through history, many horrific incidents have taken place all based on someone else’s perception of what was good or bad in life. World War I was started by one person assassinating a political figure who was thought to be unfair. Millions of people died because of an opinion. Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the 1970s, had 1.5 million people killed to enforce his opinion that Cambodia should remain an agrarian society. Somewhere Pol Pot was taught modern society was evil.

Most political debacles occur due to someone’s opinion. Often these turn deadly for those around the leader.

So, how should we handle prejudices with Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT, tapping)?

Prejudicial beliefs can be handled like any other problem a client could bring to us. Different techniques could be used to undo the basis of the prejudice.

I personally would want to tap, asking the Holy Spirit, if there is any trauma suffered at the hands of the one against which the prejudice stands. Often this is the case when sexual abuse has been perpetrated.

If a male has abused a young lady, often that woman wants little to nothing to do with males. This is a prejudice, too. Once we tap away the underlying emotions of the trauma, most often this frees the client to see other males in a completely different light, understanding that the abuse was perpetrated by one particular male, not the entire male race!

The same would pertain to a young African American boy who was bullied or beat-up by a gang of Caucasian males. Later in life that same man might come to believe that all white males are dangerous bullies, locking the African American male into a life that keeps him from ever being successful because he won’t involve himself in white society. This becomes a prejudice that denies a person the fullness and abundance talked about in Psalm 31:19. God wants us to have an abundant life filled with love, beauty, and laughter.

I invite you to pray and think about what prejudices in life you have against other people, institutions, churches, etc., which might be holding you back in life from doing your best for God.

What opinions do you hold in life that may have no factual basis at all, except what you heard someone tell you those ideas decades ago?

Consider hiring an EFT practitioner to explore and eliminate those prejudicial viewpoints from your life, allowing God to open up opportunities you never considered for yourself. God just might have a very special job for you to do for Him!

EFT is not a substitute for medical care, so please take personal responsibility for all your physical and emotional needs.

Sherrie Rice Smith, R.N. (Retired)

Certified EFT Practitioner

Author of EFT for Christians – order from my website below.

EFTforChristians.com