Emotional Freedom Techniques, ACEs, and Loving Kindness

Please Note:  Winter Blooms is an educational website created to support the most effective use of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) to reduce stress and increase joy.  To experience the benefits of EFT for in-the-moment, trauma-informed emotional support, and to build emotional resilience over the long term, contact Jane (802) 533-9277 / jane@winterblooms.net.

Visit www.winterblooms.net,  www.aamet.org and www.neftti.com to learn more about how EFT supports the resolution of inner and outer conflicts, informs more loving and respectful relationships, and empowers its users to contribute to the changes we want to see in the world.

Bowing our heads to say a prayer for the world has fallen out of fashion, at least among the most vociferously expressive of our current-events chroniclers.  Sadly, in these times of emotional, physical, intellectual, and spiritual overload, the most common form of communication is the reactive rant.  Like a virus, the emotions of fear and grief fueling verbal assaults – those we see among leaders in news and those we see among family and friends and co-workers – cannot help but infect us, especially if we are working through the residual effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). Continue reading Emotional Freedom Techniques, ACEs, and Loving Kindness

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.

Continue reading The Longest Journey

Creating a Kindness Practice in 2016

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.

Given the current state of the world, it is hard to believe that kindness is a virtue valued in every culture.  The effects of kindness are so profound that every generation of every society speaks of its vital importance through its sages.    In ancient China, Lao Tzu, author of the Tao Te Ching and founder of Taoism, told his world, “Kindness in words creates confidence.  Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.  Kindness in giving creates Love.”  In classical Greece, Plato admonished his fellow citizens to, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.”  Much closer to us in time and geography, George Sand, nineteenth century French novelist and essayist, instructed her readers to, “Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness.  Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.”  We are all recipients of kindness at one time or another, and each of us knows first hand that kindness is what makes life both meaningful and joyful.  With this in mind, I’m suggesting we all develop a Kindness Practice in 2016.

Continue reading Creating a Kindness Practice in 2016

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.

Continue reading Voicelessness and Sexual Assault

Tapping and Speaking our Truth

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.

Sometimes we are faced with challenging situations at home, at social events, and at work, that require we leave our comfort zone to speak an unpopular truth.  Situations in which our values are challenged run the gamut from personal agonies over telling a friend the truth of our feelings regarding a specific situation to addressing a nursing home situation to protect the health and well being of residents and their family members.  These situations require deep soul searching, loving kindness, and moral courage.  Tapping can help us to make more informed, emotionally intelligent decisions regarding how to speak our truth in family, social, or workplace situations that trouble us.

Continue reading Tapping and Speaking our Truth