Big Black Ghost of Prediction

Use of Metaphors

By Puja Kanth Alfred, M.A (Psychology), EFT-CERT I

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I’m describing one phone session with my client called ‘Aasha’ that demonstrates the importance of reframing according to the client’s unique experiences, choice of words and use of metaphors.

In this session Aasha wanted to work on money blocks. She strongly felt that earning too much money was bad and one of the core issues, which we had been working on, was her strained relationship with her mother. Her mother used to say that “too much money is really bad”. During the tapping session on the various aspects related to money like, “guilt for wanting a high salary, thinking that she was greedy and evil for wanting more money’, another aspect about predictions came up. She had met an astrologer many years back and he had predicted that her quality of life would stagnate after a certain period of time. He had said that despite being capable and hardworking, her fate would drag her towards stagnation. Since one of his earlier predictions regarding her marriage had come true, Aasha was certain that this one would turn out to be true as well.

Her primary representational modality was visual and hence, in most of the sessions she would visually describe what she was feeling. She felt something stuck inside her body whenever she was releasing a strong emotion.

Her metaphorical description of the prediction was – “A big black ghost”.

Even though I feel that no matter what I do, nothing will work because this big black ghost of a prediction will eat it all up and work against it, I choose to blow away this big black ghost.

Along with the tapping I also asked her to visualize that the prediction was a cloud and she was blowing it away.

After one round on this affirmation, she reported that the cloud had cleared visually but she wasn’t yet convinced. She felt that there was some ‘slippery gooey’ stuff related to this belief in her throat and in her head. She desperately wanted to pull it all out.

I asked her to tap while saying -

I choose to pull out this big slippery gooey stuff out of my head and throw it away.

After one round on this, she said that the stuff is so slippery it cannot be gripped. Hence some stuff was out but some had gone back into that ‘hole’ in her head. I suggested tapping on-

Even though something is left in that hole, I choose to take it out and throw it away.

She did not feel like using the term ‘throw it away’ so I asked her to tap on -

I choose to accept what is inside me and lovingly release it.

This worked like a charm. She got a lot of relief after this. There was an audible sigh.

However, she was still not fully convinced (her intensity wasn’t fully gone yet) as she believed that her head wasn’t completely empty of that gooey stuff because fate cannot be fought with. I made her tap on-

Even though I have this belief that I cannot overcome my fate no matter what I do I choose to create my own destiny.

She suddenly felt that she was being suffocated by this belief - not being able to fight the fate.  I asked her to take a deep breath and report the amount of constriction she felt in her breath. She felt the constriction to be at 8. Usually in the constricted breathing exercise, the rating for the ability to breathe fully is taken. However, I took the rating for the amount of constriction in her case.

Even though I have this ‘fate’ constricted breath, I accept myself and I choose to breathe deeply.

It went down to a 6.

After a few rounds her breathing was normal and the constriction disappeared. I asked her how she felt about the prediction. She said – “I’m horrified that this belief had such a strong hold over me, I feel free of that hold now”.

This gave me another aspect to tap on - her horrified expression, which we covered in the next session.

Puja Kanth Alfred

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Author's Bio:

I am a counseling psychologist, Certified EFT Practitioner & Emotional Trauma Expert . I work with clients across the globe using a unique cross-cultural approach called Geo-Specific EFT.

http://emofreetherapy.com

puja@emofreetherapy.com

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3 Comments

Dave Bryant
Posted March 30, 2011 09:53 PM

When you wrote, "I made her tap on-", I gasped. How on earth do you get results with a client when you MAKE THEM tap on something? Is this unique to your "Geo-Specific EFT? Is this practice client-centered? If so, how often do you find a client who responds well to being made to tap on something?

Puja Kanth Alfred
Posted March 31, 2011 01:10 AM

Dave,
I made her tap on - meaning - She tapped on the affirmation I gave her as it was a phone session. It doesn't mean I forced her to tap on. EFT is a client centered application.

You may have misunderstood because of my style of writing. It simply means - "She tapped on".

Nothing extraordinary happens in Geo -specific EFT. Only the affirmations are customized according to culture and language. And this is very good example of how the style of writing differs in each country and can create confusion.

I hope it is clear now.

Puja Kanth Alfred
Posted March 31, 2011 09:07 AM

Dave,
Verbal Expressions differ in each country and awareness of that is central to Geo-Specific Approach.

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