Question: EFT usually works wonderfully for me, but I’ve been unsuccessful when using it to reduce my constant worry about the scheduling and deadlines in my life. I think the reason is that these are very real problems that I must pay attention to. Can I really do anything about a reality like this by tapping on it?
Answer: You can do a great deal to change the way you handle time demands by using EFT, but doing this successfully often requires a major shift in perspective.
Making a Paradigm Shift from the Pressures of Time
You may have been unsuccessful in your attempt to use EFT for this problem because you were trying to QUIET YOURSELF in the face, of insistent obligations and deadlines which you face without making any basic changes in your lifestyle to handle this problem. Sometimes immediately quieting yourself down in the face of pressure can be very useful. I’ll comment on in this in a moment, but it is usually only one part of the process. More work is often necessary if you want to make a real change with respect to this problem.
Here are a few EFT Choices you might use to calm yourself down when you find yourself under such pressure.
“Even though I don’t see how I can possibly get all this done, I choose to stay calm and confident.”
OR
“Even though I feel overwhelmed by all these demands, I choose to remember how well I got through all that I had to do on (insert name and date of incident that reminds you of a past success you may have had in this area).
OR
“Even though I’m in a state of overwhelm, I choose to know that I will take care of everything eventually.”
OR, you can use one of my very favorite Choices:
. . .”I choose to LET IT BE EASY.”
This might be called an all-purpose Choice because for most of us making things far more complicated than they need be is close to second nature. It is, I think, largely a cultural factor. In Western societies we are conditioned from early childhood on to consider our accomplishments worthy only if they involve GREAT EFFORT.
Of course, some of them do involve considerable effort, but to expect this ALWAYS to be the case is a hampering belief which can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The point is that most of the time we go around expecting tasks to be more difficult than they need be without even realizing it. I would advise you to use the Choice “Let it be easy” as often as possible. Some people write it on a card which they post in some prominent place in their home — you can’t overdo such reminders.
As for the changes in lifestyle that may be required to make your time schedule more livable, these take a little more thought and planning, but when you find the right Choice it can be extremely valuable in helping you create a new perspective.
Some of the Choices I recommend for this purpose are:
“In spite of my ‘impossible’ schedule, I choose to find creative ways to give myself some wonderful down time each day”.
OR
“In spite of my ‘impossible’ schedule, I choose to find a surprising answer for this problem.”
OR
“In spite of my ‘impossible’ schedule, I choose to honor my own needs and be even MORE effective.”
OR
“….I choose to be even more effective than I am now by allowing myself some delightful off time.”
Obviously there are many variations on this theme but the basic idea is to break out of the paradigm — to move away from the constricting belief that your life must be drudgery and you must be tied slavishly to schedules in order to be effective. It is only a belief system after all, although it probably feels painfully real.
To help this process along, I suggest you make Choice cards (see discussion of them in Chapter 5 of the Choices Manual) for each of the Choices you create for this problem, and then read them aloud to yourself each night before you go bed, and again when you wake up in the morning. After a few days of doing this you may discover a very interesting change in the way you handle the external pressures and demands in your life, and in the kinds of solutions to them that will pop into your mind. You will have made a positive suggestion to the creative side of your unconscious, telling it to come up with answers to the time pressures in your life.
Good luck!
Pat Carrington
Related Products
Expanding Personal Time:
The Ultimate Time Management System
Discover how to use EFT to set yourself free from the relentless pressure of “not enough time,” and become the master of your deadlines, rather than allowing them to control your life.
