Come to Know and Love Your Genuine Self
Grady was a loving child with loving parents. When he was born, his mother and father held him and looked adoringly into his face. They cooed and smiled a lot and he was safe in their embrace. He was loved, and as he grew, he knew he was loved. His parents encouraged him to explore and grow and learn.
But when Grady started school, something happened. The kindergarten teacher didn't like him. There was no particular reason, she just didn't connect with him. She would be just a little bit short-tempered with him. Even she didn't really understand it. The other children sensed the teacher's feelings toward Grady, and they shunned him, choosing other playmates over him. At first, Grady didn't notice that the other children weren't playing with him, but after a little while, he did start to notice. He went home one day and asked his mother why the other children didn't play with him. His mother was concerned and went to see the teacher.
The teacher smiled and said Grady was a lovely child and she didn't see any reason why the other children wouldn't like him. But she promised that she would make an effort to ensure that he was socially engaged. True to her word, the teacher made sure that Grady was accepted into play groups in school. But the seed of doubt had been planted.
Over the next few years, Grady had some trouble fitting in. Even though that kindergarten teacher made an effort to see that Grady was included in games and activities, his sense of not belonging had been set. In the following years, he could often be seen standing off to the side during recess or at lunchtime.
Grady was successful in his scholastic endeavors. He went to college, got a degree in business. He had a few friends, but mostly he focused on his schoolwork. He met a woman in college and they got married, and had children. He loved his wife and his children.
So what's wrong? Sounds like a good life, right? But there was something amiss in Grady's life. It was an edge that was always there. It was as if a transparent gray veil was always there, hanging between his true self and his image of himself. He had this constant nagging feeling that something was just not right. He was just a bit unacceptable to himself. And he believed he was unloveable.
That little self-doubt that Grady developed in kindergarten may not seem like a traumatic event to most people. After all, things like this happen to almost everyone at some point in their lives. But it has had an impact on Grady's entire life since he was five years old. Sometimes, these little traumas that seem like they are so minor as to be unimportant can color our entire lives. But believe it or not, it's possible to lift that gray veil that settles over our soul. EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) is so effective, it's almost hard to believe.
Grady went to see an EFT practitioner. He had been having some trouble with a person at work who just didn't seem to like him. He'd heard about EFT from his wife's girlfriend and decided to give it a try. They tapped together on the work situation, calling up specific incidents that caused him to feel uncomfortable, and tapping until it felt better. As they tapped, the practitioner guided him to recall other incidents in his life that made him feel unwanted, rejected, or unloveable. They tapped on those incidents, too. It turned out that there was a pattern that recurred in Grady's life over and over again. The next week he returned for another session.
Midway through Grady's second session, the practitioner asked Grady to try to think back to his earliest memory of feeling rejected. They tapped on his feelings of isolation in elementary school and all the way back to kindergarten. Grady experienced a shift in his inner feelings. It was as if someone took that veil and lifted it right off of him. He really couldn't even remember quite how it had felt before. Because after tapping on it he felt okay. He feltsimply lovable.
EFT can help you remove your gray veil that colors your world so that you can come to know your genuine self. And from your genuine self flows love.
NOTE: Grady is not a real person. This blog was meant to illustrate how small traumas can cast a shadow over our lives, and how EFT can be a tool to remove that shadow. EFT can also help with really big traumas. It is has been shown in clinical trials to be among the most effective therapies for PTSD.
