Visit www.winterblooms.net, www.aamet.org and www.neftti.com to learn more about how the use of Emotional Freedom Techniques (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.
Recently, I watched a stranger’s growing distress as a cheerful sales clerk asked casual questions about the status of her tree trimming, baking, and gift buying. To some, this time of year is an endless source of joy that means family, the birth of Christ, and the meaning of giving. To many others in the western hemisphere, this holiday season distills the isolation and disillusionment at the heart of a compulsively materialistic culture. Whether we’re solidly in the joy camp or increasingly aware of the inequities in our society, this time of year comes with its own special challenges. So much of our attention is diverted from the quiet pleasures of authentic connection that we can spiral into seasonal depression. Using EFT daily, as a personal emotional-hygiene tool and even as a form of prayer for the larger world, can help us to find Peace in the Winter Solstice energies supporting conscious rebirth.
When Distress Turns to Depression
Remaining emotionally balanced and grounded during this time of year in the west is a real challenge for people whose memories of alcoholism, domestic violence, and broken dreams of “Santa’s” generosity litter their psyches. The pressure to be happy often catapults people already unable to self regulate into the time-bomb emotions of despair, rage, and shame. A culture determined to avoid the realities of distressed people and our kin in the other-than-human world is a culture in denial. But all is not lost, for whispering at the margins of the manic efforts to celebrate by spending our way into happiness are the voices reminding us how to live meaningful, loving lives. EFT can help us to listen to these voices, to heed the call to silence and reflection, to open to the magic of this season’s call to live authentically by embracing the whole of our experiences – physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual – and making peace with them.
Making Room for Love Each Day
Each of us can create a time of day to mimic the transitional Winter Solstice energies of rebirth. For me, my time of reflection and rebirth is early each morning, around five, when the darkness appears to intensify before the coming sunrise. The house is quiet as I light my candle and take up my journal; this is my space for making the seemingly random coherent, the insensible insightful, and the fearful instructive. Each of us has the potential to create this sacred time, in the early hours of the morning, in the hours after a busy day, or in the brilliant sunshine or storms of midday. Whatever time helps us to truly see the glories of our world’s constantly changing wholeness, beauty, diversity, and reciprocity is Sacred Time.
EFT’s great gift over time is perspective. Creating setup statements to name the petty annoyances and serious traumas of personal and cultural life honour the feelings and the knowings of the Deep Self. This honouring process, when practiced daily and with reverence, creates a well of good will that is cumulative and non-specific. The Self is able to see everything as essential to the process that plants us firmly in the evolutionary work of becoming conscious creators of reality, a just reality grounded in deep love and respect for all beings.
Our personal and collective growth depends upon our ability to feel the seasons’ profound messages unfolding in our lovely human bodies and in the other-than-human world supporting all flesh. At this time of year the message to be still, to listen, to reflect is paramount. When we voice our fears and challenges using the EFT process, we honour, diminish, and finally dissolve them. As dissolution occurs, these negative energies are transformed to support the positive visions we wish to support in the new cycle. Through this apparently simple process of addressing our own fears and challenges while tapping on meridian points, we are brought into harmony with Earth’s rebirth energies and supported by the energies generating all life affirming changes.
A Timely Invitation
In this season of greatest darkness and apparent death, of anticipation of the Spark that is the herald of a new cycle, we are invited to shed the old, ill fitting beliefs and fears that keep us from acknowledging the growing Light around and within us. Using the marvelous tools we have to keep our own energies humming spreads the hum, that magnificent song we hear when we take time to tune into this season of rebirth. We live within the Uni-Verse, after all, and we are this Song’s indispensable singers.
Daily, throughout this cold dark time, may we discover our most personal and supportive time for the work of Sacred Reflection. May our personal work support our best vision for Self, for our Beloveds, for our Communities, and for our Mother-Father Planet. May this be so for all.
with Sparks of Optimism and Joy to Light the Darkness
Jane
Jane is an EFT practitioner, trainer, writer, and educator specializing in neutralizing the long-term effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as well as the cultural limitations that interfere with our ability to imagine, create, and live the lives we desire. To engage Jane for individual or group coaching services, AAMET Accredited, Certified Mentoring sessions, and EFT Level One and Two Training for your group, call Jane at (802) 533-9277 or email jane@winterblooms.net . Visit www.winterblooms.net to learn more about how Jane supports and inspires individuals, groups, and communities.
Please Note: This is an educational website only and not meant to replace therapy with certified psychologists, family therapists, or psychiatrists. Jane Buchan, MA, is an AAMET EFT Master Trainer, long-time teacher at the elementary, secondary, and college levels, and early trauma survivor who works exclusively as a learning coach in the best practices of EFT. She created www.winterblooms.net to support the most effective use of EFT to help others reduce general and specific stresses in order to increase the joy of daily living through in-the-moment self regulation and long-term resilience.
To experience the benefits of EFT for in-the-moment, trauma-informed emotional support and to build emotional resilience over the long term, please reach out to Jane by phone at (802) 533-9277 or by email at jane@winterblooms.net. In her coaching practice, Jane uses EFT and many other techniques to help individuals, groups, and communities resolve inner and outer conflicts and identify and achieve goals that will bring about desired positive changes. This blog reflects her experience with EFT’s efficacy as a support for personal, community, and cultural transformation.