When the Bug Bites, When the Bee Stings, Don’t Forget EFT!

by Ange Dickson Finn
www.ride-without-fear.com
Houston, Texas, USA

With summertime coming on, many of us will have our not-so-fun moments with mosquitos, bees, ants, and the other biting or stinging insects as we’re out enjoying Mother Nature. I wanted to share experiences of my own to remind you that EFT is a great “first responder” tool when these minor accidents happen.

In my part of the country, we have plenty of mosquitos and lots of fire ants. If you’ve never had a fire ant bite, you may not know what a nuisance they can be. Fire ant bites make big red bumps that often show a white center. They can be painful for days and unsightly for months!

I used to just suffer through these and other summer mishaps, but basic EFT now helps me with mosquito bites, fire ant bites, mashed toes and scalds.

For both fire ant bites and mosquito bites, as soon as I realized I had been bitten, I immediately began rounds of EFT. My first statements were, “Even though I got bitten, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

Next I added the emotional component. These might be statements like, “Even though I feel so dumb for forgetting to put on mosquito repellent,” or “Even though it was really stupid to kick the ant bed to see if it was fire ants or red ants”… See how the self-judgements creep in?

In the case of mosquitos, I would address fears: “Even though I’m afraid of getting West Nile….”

And for fire ants, I’d add the annoyance of painful and ugly spots: “Even though this is going to hurt for days and be ugly for weeks….” (nothing like an ant bite to spoil the look of freshly pedicured feet in cute summer sandals!)

Finally, I might add things like, “Even though the ant was just doing his job, protecting his turf” or “Even though the mosquito was just trying to make a living, getting a meal,” to keep me from being too anthropocentric about it all and to remind me that I’m sharing this world with lots of creatures.

Using EFT like this, I’ve had mosquito and ant bites that never even left a mark! Amazing to me, especially in the case of the ants.

I’ve also used EFT for the more than one occasion when my horse stepped on my toe. In one case, the accident happened the day before I was to leave for a trip where I’d be wearing dress shoes that would not be comfortable on a bruised or swollen toe.

After tapping on the pain, and on my irritation with my horse for acting like a horse, I added, “Even though I’m just sure I’m going to be in agony walking all over Milwaukee tomorrow…” and similar statements. The toe bruised, but gave me no pain the next day.

And finally, I used EFT when I scalded a small spot on my foot with boiling water. I used the basic round for pain and similar statements to the ones above for emotional issues, and found myself in a curious state that I can only describe this way: I felt the stinging pain of burned skin, but I had no mental or emotional reaction to the sensation. The EFT took away my mind’s panic reaction to injury. The spot, about 3 inches long by an inch wide, stayed red and slightly tender that evening, and by morning the skin was completely normal.

The best protocol for me has been:

1. Address the physical pain first, with two or three rounds.

2. Address the emotional/judgemental aspects next, since most of us blame or scold ourselves in some way for mishaps.

3. Address the future fears/anxieties third, such as, “I’ll get West Nile;” “What if my toe is broken?” “This will leave a mark for months.”

Repeat as needed!

And, when you realize hours later that you’re just fine, remember to give thanks for having such a useful tool at your fingertips.

Ange Finn
www.ride-without-fear.com

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 10:02 pm and is filed under Latest, Physical Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.