If you have decided to put yourself or your child through the flu shot, you can make it easier by using a little EFT.

First deal with any anxieties about the event that you may have. Some examples that come to mind are

• The needle might hurt.
• It may cause a lot of pain.
• There may be an adverse reaction such as swelling, muscle aches, allergic reaction or more.
• You or your child had a bad reaction the last time you had a similar shot.
• You have always been afraid of needles.
• ____________________________________(any other concerns)

So, tapping on the side of first your own hand and then your child’s hand tap for these fears thus :

• Even though the needle might hurt, I accept myself.
• Even though it may cause a lot of pain, I accept myself.
• Even though there may be an adverse reaction such as swelling, muscle aches, allergic reaction or more, I accept myself.
• Even though I  had a bad reaction the last time I had a similar shot, I accept myself.
• Even though I have always been afraid of needles, I accept myself. If you have needle fears check out this article here.
• Even though _______________________________ , I accept myself anyway.

Once you have dealt with any  fears or concern surrounding the actual event, you have tapped for these and are feeling better about the upcoming event, go ahead and get the shot.  If it hurts at all afterwards, if you have swellng or pain afterwards, you can tap for this too.

• Even though my arm really hurts right now, I am a good person. I am just doing the best I can to stay healthy and safe.

Or if all this brought you to the point that you decided against getting the flu shot:

• Even though I’ve decided not to get the flu shot, I accept myself anyway.  I am doing the best I can to stay healthy and safe.

Don’t feel helpless when (your child or) you get a cold or the flu.  Use EFT, Emotional Freedom Techniques to deal with symptoms as they come up and to feel empowered instead.

Start by tapping your karate chop point (on the outside edge/little finger side of your hand) and saying

Even though I feel helpless and I don’t know what to do, I accept myself and I know that everything will be okay.

Even though this tapping on the side of my hand might not help me or my child, I accept myself.

Even though I feel like I need to do something fast, I accept myself.

Even though I am in a panic about this, I accept myself and I know that everything will be okay.

Even though I (or my children) have symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, joint pain, or weakness, I accept myself and I know that everything will be okay.

Even though my child has gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhoea, I accept myself and I know that everything will be okay.

Even if I/my child have/has one or more risk factors involved in a severe H1N1 illness..including  __________________(fill in the appropriate categories as listed below):

• Chronic heart disease,
• Diabetes
• immune suppression
• neuromuscular disorders
• blood disorders
• conditions requiring long term ASA (aspirin) treatment
• conditions that compromise ability to breath
• conditions which increase risk of breathing in fluids
• Pregnancy

…I accept myself.

Now tap through all the following points, 7-10 times for each symptom.

So,  say, “this fever” and tap on the top of the head, just below the collar bone, tap the inside and outside of each wrist and each ankle at the area of the ankle bone,as you  repeat the words, “this fever”. Repeat the entire process. on yourself or your child.

Or tap 1) the top of head, 2)inner eyebrow, 3)outer  eye  area, 4)under eye on the eye bone,5) under nose, 6)under chin, 7)under collar bone, and  8)on the torso, under the arms, tapping 7-10 times per area, and going through the points at least twice. Wait 10 minutes, repeat if necessary.  Get immediate medical attention if symptoms worsen.

I recently met a very special girl. I call her a girl, because she is still exploring her place in the world, though truthfully she is a young woman. Why is she special? Well to begin with, she is a survivor. As a young child, she experienced some trauma that eventually took her to a place of addiction.  Knowing  in her heart that life did not have to be the way it was, and searching for solutions brought her to a 12 step program for her multiple addictions.  She received a lot of help from these programs but was stalled on steps 4 to 6.  She needed to work on some of her underlying issues, her past, her present self-hatred, and some other issues. She knew she needed something more. Luckily, her sponsor encouraged her to look to alternative treatments and luckily, EFT kept coming to her attention.

Finally she called me.  Our first session, we dealt with a very traumatic experience and she was able to see herself as an innocent child out of her depth, and not at all to blame for the event.  She was also able to see that she had done the right thing, that the action she had taken to protect herself had been effective.  She was able to change her perception of the traumatic event from being a passive victim to being a strong, effective survivor.  EFT is so effective in helping these re-frames ‘land’ that I am continually amazed at the shifts in perspectives that take place in my clients.

She is a beautiful girl and realizes that she has to take care of her own physical, emotional and mental health  in order to be present for others. At her young age she has learned what many never learn- that we need to take care of ourselves to be effective with others and to take care of other people.   We have seen each other maybe 4 times.  I am amazed at her increased confidence and her energy.  She no longer wears a V for victim on her forehead.  She projects self-confidence.  She has come so far.

I know she is just beginning her journey. There may be times when she needs to come back for some expert help with things. However, she has learned how to use EFT so that she can help herself cope with most of life’s curve balls.

Congratulations, my dear.

This testimonial came in response to my description of telephone EFT.

I have to tell you I so appreciate your professionalism and attention
to detail.  I spoke with a number of practitioners yesterday in an
effort to find one I was comfortable recommending to my clients and
you are very definitely that individual.  You very definitely have a
giving approach and understand the individual needs to learn about
and experience you before they can make a decision whether or not to
utilize your services

Kindest regards,
Sharleen Froats
p.s. I'm still laughing about yesterday's concern as I re-read
over our brief session.  Thanks again!!

I often demonstrate the power of EFT with a short stress-reducing session on the phone. For instance, the other day, a woman phoned me and wondered how I could help with stress by phone.  I asked her to think of some small issue that had recently irritated her. She was married, so I suggested she think of something her husband had done. After a bit of thought, she admitted that he had annoyed her that morning when she had called him at work to complain that the screen door needed repairs and he had not sounded very sympathetic. She was at a 5 on the scale for being upset about it.

I took her through the tapping sequence by phone, suggesting she karate chop her knee and saying:

• Even though my husband doesn’t care about the screen door as much as I do, I accept myself.
• Even though he cares about his stuff more than he cares about my stuff, I accept myself.
• Even though when he’s at work he doesn’t care about things at home, I accept myself.

Then I took her through all the tapping points, saying as I went:

• Even though he’s got other things on his mind and is worrying about his own things, I accept myself.
• Even though I care about my stuff more than I care about his stuff, I accept myself.
• Even though he cares about his stuff and I care about my stuff, I accept myself.
• Maybe when he comes home and sees the screen door then maybe he’ll care more about it then.

By the end, I had her laughing and her stress level about the incident down to 0.

Some of you might notice how I reframed the incident for her-it really wasn’t her husband trying to hurt her feelings: he wasn’t telling her concerns didn’t matter. Rather he was at work and his mind was on other things. I was able to show her in a non-judgemental way, that he might not have been so attentive to her feelings because of the space he was in.  These reframes seem to ‘land’ better with tapping.