Increasing your effectiveness with EFT, part 214.
It might be a large bill you weren’t expecting, an expensive car repair, a sudden loss of income, or any other situation that puts pressure on your finances. Even when the setback is manageable from a practical standpoint, the emotional reaction can sometimes feel quite intense.
Part of the reason for this is that money is often closely linked to our sense of safety and survival. When something happens that affects our finances, it can activate fears and beliefs that go far beyond the actual amount of money involved.
This is where EFT can be particularly helpful.
When a financial setback occurs, one useful approach is to give the microphone to the thoughts and feelings that come up when you think about what happened.
Rather than trying to immediately reassure yourself or think positively, it can be helpful to become curious.
What exactly are you telling yourself about this situation?
What does this setback seem to confirm?
For example, some people notice thoughts such as:
- “I knew this would happen”.
- “I’ll never have enough”.
- “Why does this always happen to me?”
- “I’m never going to get ahead”.
- “I can’t afford to make mistakes”.
These thoughts are often more important than the setback itself because they reveal the deeper beliefs and fears that have been activated.
If the situation triggers a sense of scarcity, hopelessness, shame, disappointment, frustration, or fear, those emotions can become the focus of the tapping.
You might ask yourself questions such as:
- Why do I believe this about money?
- What emotion comes up when I think about this setback?
- Does this feeling seem familiar?
- Have I felt this way before?
Very often, financial setbacks do not just activate present-day concerns. They also activate older experiences that are still carrying an unpleasant emotional charge.
This is another area where EFT can be useful.
You may find it helpful to tap on specific memories related to money, one at a time. It is not necessary to tap on every unpleasant money-related memory you have ever had. Often, working on a few significant experiences can create meaningful shifts.
For example, you might remember wanting a toy as a child that your parents could not afford. Or perhaps you remember losing a job, struggling to pay a bill, getting into debt, or receiving unexpected financial news.
When working with these memories, it is important to remember that EFT focuses on the emotional charge you feel in the present moment when thinking about them. We are not tapping on the past itself, but on how we feel now as we remember it.
As the emotional charge around these experiences begins to soften, the beliefs that once felt unquestionably true can start to feel less true than before.
A thought such as “I’ll never have enough” may still appear occasionally, but it often begins to feel less convincing and less emotionally charged. Instead of feeling like an unquestionable fact, it starts to feel more like a passing thought.
Financial setbacks are a normal part of life, even though they can be really stressful when they occur. By using EFT to work with the emotions, beliefs, and memories that these situations activate, we can often respond to them with greater clarity and calm.
And while tapping may not repair the car or pay the bill, it can help reduce the emotional burden that makes these already stressful situations a lot harder to navigate.
That said, when it comes to doing EFT, it’s not always easy to do it by ourselves. If you’d like some support exploring what’s coming up for you, you can learn more about my approach at brunosade.com.
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I’m Bruno Sade, a clinical psychologist and Accredited Certified Advanced EFT Practitioner. I work online with people around the world, helping them reduce the emotional charge behind difficult thoughts, memories, and triggers.
If you’re curious about experiencing EFT in a guided session, I occasionally offer a free EFT tapping session in exchange for a brief market research interview. You can sign up here.