EFT for overcoming self-care procrastination

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Part III: Creating your EFT tapping ‘Reminder phrases’

Once you’ve written your ‘Set-up statement’ down break it up into what, in EFT we call, ‘Reminder Phrases’ (to help you remember what it is that you want to work on as you tap).

For example, if your ‘Set-up statement’ was “Even though I neglect my need for regular exercise because I work all day, and I feel angry about that, I love and accept myself anyway.” your Reminder Phrases could be:

  • “I’m so angry”
  • “I’m angry with myself”
  • “I’m angry with my boss”
  • “I work all day”
  • “Working until late at night”
  • “Always putting others first”
  • “I don’t have time or energy for exercise”
  • “I’m just so fed up”

Now, you have all the pieces of the puzzle ready to roll, and you are ready to create the first round of your EFT Tapping meditation.

EFT Tapping meditation example

Continuing with the above example, this is what it would look like, if this was your situation:

[Tapping on the side of the hand, repeat 3 times in your head, or out loud]  “Even though I neglect my need for regular exercise because I work all day, and I feel angry about that, I love and accept myself anyway.”

Top of Head: I’m so angry
Eyebrow: I’m angry with myself
Side of Eye: I’m angry with my boss
Under Eye: I’m working all day
Under Nose: Working until late at night
Under Mouth: Always putting others first
Collarbone: I don’t have time or energy for exercise
Under Arm: I’m just so fed up

This is called one ‘round’ of tapping, because you go around all 8 tapping points once. Some people like to start at the Eyebrow point, others like to start at the Top of the Head. Personally, I like to start at the Top of the Head, because I feel it makes more sense to me to ‘sweep through’ all the points from top to bottom. There’s no right or wrong way to go through the points. Do what feels right for you.

Part IV: Creating ever-more precise EFT tapping set-up statement

What you will find, the more you tap, is that your awareness of what is holding you back from overcoming your self-care procrastination will expand. The energy will shift.

For example, the resignation may shift to anger as you get in touch with the activation energy of healthy anger. The anger may shift to sadness. The sadness may shift to determination. Every tapping session is different, and every situation is different. Follow the body, and repeat Part III to create ever-more precise EFT Tapping rounds, until you clear all of the emotional blocks that are holding you back from having the energy to start transforming your self-care habits.

The important thing is to keep tapping until the intensity of all the blocking emotions goes down to a 0, or as close to a 0 as possible. It’s in the 3/10, 2/10, 0/10 range of emotional distress that we experience a naturally occurring Cognitive Shift.

A Cognitive Shift is when your thinking about your self-care procrastination problem literally ‘shifts’, because the stress response in your body has gone down, allowing you to move into the more rational, thinking brain. You may also bump into a blocking belief (i.e. ‘My needs don’t matter’, ‘I’m not enough’, ‘I’m not worthy enough’) that may be holding you back from overcoming your self-care procrastination. In this case, it is important to create new tapping ‘Set-up statements’ focused on helping yourself overcome this blocking belief.

EFT Tapping: Online support services

If you want to work on your self-care procrastination habit with me as a professional EFT Practitioner, send me an email describing your situation and we’ll take it from there. You can learn more about my private EFT package deals and services on the Work With Me and EFT Practitioner pages on my website.


Main photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

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