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Food repulsion, email phobia, golf &amp; rejection


Hi Everyone,

Michelle LaPrise offers some unique uses for EFT. My comments are interspersed within her message.

Hugs, Gary

by Michelle LaPrise

Hi Gary!

Wanted to share some personal tapping successes....

1. My husband's business friend invited us to dinner last Friday. I could hear the pride in his voice when he said he was serving Maine lobsters. I gagged! All my life I have found the thought of eating shellfish to be revolting - to the point of making me want to retch. Especially lobster. No kidding. Major 10 SUDS [0-10 scale] on this baby. I can't even touch a lobster, much less put any of it in my mouth. I was too embarrassed to say I don't eat lobster (blechh!) so I weakly replied, "Wow! That sounds fabulous." I tapped two rounds before dinner and the SUDS went to a 1. When we got there and he plunked a giant whole lobster on my plate I picked up a fork and dug in with great gusto. My husband was nothing short of flabbergasted. Frankly so was I.

GC COMMENT: Well now, isn't this interesting. This is the flip side of using EFT for addictive cravings. Instead of relieving urges for things we consume, we now find evidence that we can eliminate the repulsion (or phobic response?) to certain foods we have been avoiding. How many children, for example, develop a repulsion for vegetables, seeds, grains and a long list of other healthy foods? What does that do for long term health?

I doubt if we are going to instantly persuade every pediatrician, obesity counselor or nutritionist around the world to have their patients tap for changing their diets. However, we can start with our own families and see if it doesn't grow from there. It's certainly worth a try.

MICHELLE CONTINUES: On the flip side of the food coin, I am down 6 pounds and within shouting distance of my goal weight, which I haven't weighed since I returned from my honeymoon. (My song is Summer in the City--- as in "Hot Damn! You're looking thin and pretty....")

2. After talking with a fellow-tapper, I came to the realization I have "email phobia." I get panicky when I see all my unread emails - especially yours. So I avoid them all and don't look at emails til I "have time". If I try to pick out the urgent ones, I would get anxious because I would see the mounting pile of unread Gary emails, and all the rest. I wanted to absorb all your priceless pearls of wisdom, "but not now"! I always download the stuff in chunks and then read it with a highlight pen. So I tapped about my email anxiety and everything else (9 SUDS) and it dropped to about a 2.5. As a result, I read through all my emails, including yours, printed out the ones I want to keep as reference, read that, and am moving ahead with my life.

I'm now a timely email responder. And I checked emails 5-6 times over the last week usually check once or twice, if that.)

GC COMMENT: I wonder if something like this isn't happening with some students who actually develop a phobic response to books, tests, essays, and/or math. Some students excel in some subjects but fall flat in others. I know I never liked English or History in school. I did okay in them but I recall an emotional thud within my system every time I entered class or started some reading. Maybe it was just disinterest, I don't know. It was too long ago to tell. However, I suspect that certain subjects (or teachers) trigger some negative stuff in us which, in turn, affects our scholastic performance. It's all tappable.

MICHELLE CONTINUES: 3. I've also picked up your gauntlet on the "fortunes to be made" and am preparing flyers for participation in a "free trial study" for golfers and tennis players to improve their game and achieve peak performance on the course/courts. Then I will publish my results by sending a press release to the sports writers. I feel this will open doors and give me the much-needed experience with these people. Since it's free, they should have an open-minded "what have I got to lose" attitude, and since I'm banking on having huge successes, the word-of-mouth will help jumpstart my business. As one of your little voices in you was saying, "Go For It!"

GC COMMENT: Michelle and I discussed this golf endeavor over the phone and got on the subject of rejection. She will be making what amounts to "sales calls" on these golfers and, of course, may get some "no's," disapproving glances or even snickers. This is par for the course (pun intended) when anyone tries to establish a new business. You make your pitch and then notice both the positive and negative responses to it. Then you refine your presentation until the negatives fade and the positives are enhanced. Eventually, the whole thing works smoothly. It's all part of the process.

However, if you perceive the initial negatives as personal rejections, you are less likely to be persistent. You may even give up. Who wants that awful "I've been rejected" feeling? I use the phrase, "I stubbed my toe" for each rejection/failure. It's a "no big deal" type of phrase and can be a very helpful reframe for rejection. Some people need more than just that reframing phrase, however. For these people, tapping is in order.

Perceived rejection is one of the most expensive emotions any salesperson can have. It is the centerpiece of call reluctance and, as any experienced salesperson will tell you, no calls--no sales. Show a corporation how to eliminate or reduce the fear of rejection for their salespeople and you will make a big impression. Ask for 10% of the increase in profits instead of $X per hour. Corporations think this way. Get contracts signed. Get known. Get a reputation. Get going.

Therapists tend to phrase this fear as "the fear of being rejected." I think it needs to be rephrased as "the fear of being rejected again." Like so many issues, rejection launches off of past events where that "awful rejection feeling" was established. Chances are, it is those past issues that need to be EFT'd. To the extent they are neutralized, there will be less emotional charge on a new rejection prone instance.

Typically, if you EFT this problem, positive cognitive shifts will occur regarding what rejection really means. This is when the reframing phrase "I stubbed my toe" truly lands. This is when the salesperson can take "no's" constructively and build a better presentation from them. For many, this is true emotional freedom.

MICHELLE CONTINUES: (I have used tapping to improve my tennis and by gum that sweet spot and I are one and the same now!)

Michelle LaPrise

