Assertiveness – Winter Blooms

The Longest Journey

Please Note: Winter Blooms is an educational website in no way meant to replace building a relationship with a trained EFT practitioner, counselor, or therapist. To find an EFT Practitioner, visit the AAMET website, the ACEP website, the EFT Universe website, the Tapping Solution website, or contact Jane for EFT coaching support.

Many cultures, including our own, tell us that the longest journey we ever make is the journey from head to heart. Anyone who has spent time living in thinking mode knows the truth of this statement. We spare ourselves the work of feeling when we crowd out our emotional responses with constant information gathering, analysis, and judgment. The truth is, our emotions distress us, because they often come with an awareness of our vulnerabilities. It feels much safer to give ourselves over to thinking about our lives and the world. And yet, without the guidance of our hearts and emotions, we are nothing more than machine-like problem solvers and problem creators. Given the number of crises we must address address today, it is easy to conclude that very few people have made the journey from head to heart.

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Transforming Ageist Thinking

Please Note: Winter Blooms is an educational website in no way meant to replace building a relationship with a trained EFT practitioner, counselor, or therapist. To find an EFT Practitioner, visit the AAMET website, the Gary Craig website, the EFT Universe website, the Tapping Solution website, or contact Jane at 802-533-9277 or jane@winterblooms.net for EFT coaching support.

We hear a version of the following every day: “I’m too old to change . . . to begin something new . . . to pursue a treasured dream.” The words may be ours, but our beliefs about aging are very much rooted in family and cultural beliefs. The over-the-hill syndrome is as toxic as any sexist remark and the sooner we relieve ourselves of the burden of belief in an inevitably medicalized old age, the happier and more productive and satisfied we’ll be. How do we age joyfully, energetically, passionately, courageously? Daily tapping can revolutionize our attitudes to aging, and, with psychologist Mario Martinez’s supportive research, help us to see ourselves as potentially successful centenarians instead of customers for adult diapers at seventy or eighty.

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Voicelessness and Sexual Assault

Please Note: Winter Blooms is an educational website in no way meant to replace building a relationship with a trained EFT practitioner, counselor, or therapist. To find an EFT Practitioner, visit the AAMET website, the Gary Craig website, the EFT Universe website, the Tapping Solution website, or contact Jane at 802-533-9277 or jane@winterblooms.net for EFT coaching support.

Last week, in the post on sexual assault’s afterlife, I touched on my grandmother’s vocal response to the event along with my own inability to make a sound during the assault. It is easy to assume a four-year-old child is unable to confront a sexual predator, but this is not always the case. Some children scream, cry, and fight physically, while others, like me, manifest sudden voicelessness and physical paralysis. This is the manifestation of the Freeze aspect of the the Fight, Flight, or Freeze Stress Response. During sudden trauma, we sometimes fight, we sometimes take flight, and, as happened to me, we sometimes freeze. Daily tapping, along with healthy sleep habits, eating habits, thinking habits, physical movement habits, meditation habits, and social habits, can build resilience into our lives that helps the Stress Response do the work it is meant to do – protect us from actual danger.

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Tapping and Insight

Please Note: Winter Blooms is an educational website only and is in no way meant to replace experience with a trained EFT practitioner, counselor, or therapist. To find an EFT Practitioner, visit the AAMET website, the EFT Universe website, the Tapping Solution website, or contact Jane at 802-533-9277 or jane@winterblooms.net for EFT coaching support.

Recently I had a session with a client who had been suffering with jaw, neck, and shoulder tension for some time. As she spoke her narrative, a story that covered more than fifteen years of physical and emotional pain, I imagined her striding forcefully down the street. In my imagination, her walk was such that her feet slapped the pavement hard as she moved forward. This woman is delicate in appearance, the seeming antithesis of someone who might slam her feet on the ground as she walked or ran. In time, I brought up the image as a next-step suggestion.

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