When I forget to Tap…(Going Public!)

Lissa Rankin Mind Over Medicine Feel like you’ve hit rock bottom? Thi...

When I forget to Tap…(Going Public!)

Perhaps the statement and question I saw most often last week when I asked you to share your successes and challenges was, “Tapping has worked for me so well! It worked for X and Y and Z…but then I forget to do it! Why? How do I “fix” this?”

I wanted to briefly answer this question, because I think it’ll apply to 99% of us…it certainly applies to me…

Yes, yes, you got me.. The Tapping Guy (as I’m often referred to when people see me speak or in public!), forgets to tap!

I always laugh at myself when I forget to tap, seeing as I spend my days writing about tapping, speaking about tapping, running a business whose sole focus is on sharing this powerful technique with the world, and I forget to apply it??? I mean..

Now, this doesn’t happen often, but enough that it is comical when it does. So what’s really going on here? And what can we do about it?

Here are some quick thoughts:

A. This is all REALLY new. I’ve been using tapping for over a decade, but in the first 25 years of my life, I didn’t know it existed. Which means there are old patterns, ingrained habits, and simple ways of life that don’t include tapping, and it can take some work to change them. The same is likely for you.

B. This isn’t only new on the individual level, it’s new to our culture, which means we don’t have cultural reinforcements as a reminder (though a recent feature in DETAILS magazine and the upcoming Dr. Oz piece on July 15th are helping to change that!). So when you turn on the TV, you’re not going to see someone tapping on there. You will get plenty of reminders to eat food, drink alcohol, switch car insurance, buy a car and more but not to tap.

C. Oftentimes, we’re resistant to changing, even if that change will be a “positive” one. I devoted an entire chapter in my book to this topic, because it’s so important to understand and clear the resistance to changing.

So what to do- a simple prescription for this challenge:

A. Laugh at yourself. We often take ourselves, our personal development, our need to “fix” our lives, WAY too seriously. If I can laugh at myself when I forget to tap, then you can too. And that laughing at myself is really about COMPASSION. And it involves an understanding that YOU are doing the best you can with the resources YOU have, in that moment…as am I, as is the rest of the world.

B. Get practical. Post little sticky notes around that say, “Tap!” Maybe one next to the TV to combat the other commercials. Wear a bracelet or rubber band that serves as your tapping reminder. Establish simple routines: tapping in the shower, tapping before bed to release the stress and negativity for the day, etc. Set a daily alarm on your phone to remind you to tap, even if it’s just for 5 minutes.

C. Study and understand why you might be resistant to changing. Ask yourself, “What’s the downside of actually healing this/letting it go/improving my life?” If you’re really honest with yourself, the answers will surprise you and open up a whole new world of what’s possible in your life and for your future. (Extensive discussion of this topic can be found in “The Tapping Solution”)

I hope you found this helpful- now I’m going to go and tap on a pulled muscle in my shoulder that I’ve been ignoring for days. It doesn’t bother me much, so I’ve just kind of “dealt” with it, without wanting to take the time to tap on it…but now it’s time to let it go and release this pain.

Hmmm…how many things in our lives are like that? We just “deal” with them…when we could truly “release” them…

Just saying…