EFT: Handling Hurtful Words

Sometimes I don't know which is more difficult - accepting yourself or accepting others. It's hard enough to live with my own mistakes, but accepting the actions of another person seems darned near impossible. For other people, it could be the other way around. The hardest person to accept and forgive is yourself. EFT can certainly help facilitate acceptance and forgiveness. And it seems to me to be a good idea to work on both accepting yourself and others.

Suppose someone has said hurtful words to you. We've all had this happen and felt the sting. It's the exact experience that creates a short circuit or "zzzzt" in the system. It helps to 1.) tap on the exact words and 2.) say the person's name.

Be very specific.

For instance:

Even though John said I look like an elephant, I deeply and completely accept myself, and I accept John.

Even though John said I look like an elephant, and his words really hurt me, I love and accept myself, and I accept John.

Even though John said I look like an elephant, and his opinion is very important to me, I love and accept myself completely, and I accept John.

While these words may be difficult to say, and you may not believe them, keep working in this way until you do believe them and it feels more comfortable. You may feel a "charge" just repeating the words that were said to you or saying the person's name, but that is exactly what you want. It points you in the direction you need to work.