EFT and Negative Affirmations

One of the biggest newbie mistakes

By Suzanne Zacharia

(Add or view comments at the bottom of the page.)

Many of us have used affirmations at some point in our healing journey. Affirmations are statements that we repeat to declare to ourselves that they are our new truth, and of course we want our new state of being to be a positive one. For example, a person aiming to be more confident may say to themselves "I am confidently calm"; and eventually, they will start believing it and feeling more confident. We all know that we must not repeat negative affirmations to ourselves. For example, if we keep telling ourselves "I am nervous", we can end up believing it and becoming nervous.

An affirmation can be a statement or phrase. For example, one can say "I am confidently calm" or "Confidently calm".

However, the reverse is not true. A statement or phrase is not necessarily an affirmation. A statement or phrase may be constructed using negative language.

This is just like we must not deliberately soil our home. For example, imagine in your home peeling an onion and leaving the skin on the floor, going to toilet on the bed, and pouring gone-off milk on the sofa. Of course you would not do that.

Instead, we peel an onion and put the skin in the bin. We go to toilet in the toilet, which we then flush. We pour gone-off milk in the sink. It is not only perfectly OK but highly desirable to get rid of this waste. And there is a right way to do it; in the bin, toilet, or sink.

Not disposing of your waste is at best unthinkable and at worst a state of putrid filth.

In EFT, we bring up our emotional waste by calling it up using a simple negative statement or phrase. This is just like holding the gone-off milk over the sink and pouring it and just like going to the toilet. We are simply letting go of waste.

One of the biggest concerns of newcomers to EFT tapping is our use of negative statements whilst tapping. This is because a newcomer may mistake them for negative affirmations. In fact, the negative statements in EFT are not affirmations and have a completely different role to an affirmation. An affirmation puts in the positive. An EFT statement or phrase is designed solely for use with tapping for taking out the negative. We do not say negative things to ourselves in EFT without tapping. It is the tapping that disposes of the waste, and the negative words that bring it up ready for disposal. So we can be confidently calm disposing of our emotional waste.

View All Articles by this Author

Author's Bio:

© Suzanne Zacharia 2010. My name is Suzanne Zacharia and I am committed to spreading the word about health options. I believe that the more and better options one has, the more choice there is. And of course, you are advised to consult with your medical practitioner before embarking on any course of alternative, complementary, or beauty therapy. Want to use this article? You can, as long as you credit me with it and invite your readers to get my FREE "EFT How-to for You" and regular free EFT Tapping script samples in my newsletter at http://www.EFT-Scripts.com - New to EFT? No worries, just get your own copy of "EFT How-to for You" and start EFTing with ease very soon!

4 Comments

Hilda Hallik
Posted September 04, 2010 05:05 AM

Hi Suzanne, What a phantastic and logical explanation for the negative statements of EFT .... thank you! All the best from Madrid!! Hilda

Suzanne
Posted September 04, 2010 01:20 PM

Glad you like it!

Rachel G
Posted September 05, 2010 10:19 AM

I like to think of negative statements in EFT as saying "I'm willing to admit that I may have been secretly believing that...(the negative belief)." so that what sounds like a negative statement is in fact a positive affirmation that we're now willing to be open - given that being open about our secret negative beliefs is a first step towards addressing where we may have got them from and why we are emotionally attracted to holding onto them.
Thanks for a great article.

Suzanne
Posted September 06, 2010 04:01 PM

That's a very interesting reframe, Rachel.

Leave a Comment

Disclaimer: All information on this website is for educational purposes only, and the content is not intended to suggest that it is a substitute for proper medical care or good common sense.

While EFT has produced remarkable clinical results, it must still be considered to be in the experimental stage and thus practitioners and the public must take complete responsibility for their use of it.

In addition, the articles on this site represent the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the founder of EFT, Gary Craig, nor the owner of this web site, Stefan Gonick.