Dr Callahan and TFT

Dr Callahan is a psychiatrist who was treating patients in a home office in the 80’s. He was treating a patient for a water phobia. She became nauseated and said she may not be able to finish the session. Dr Callahan asked if he could tap on some stomach meridians to see if it would help her nausea. She suddenly said, “I’m not afraid of water anymore” and ran down to his swimming pool. She splashed some water on herself. She said, “I still know I can’t swim; I’m just not afraid of the water anymore.”

Dr Callahan refined his work and wrote a book called the “Five Minute Phobia Cure.” It didn’t gain a lot of traction because of three factors. First of all, it went too far against the accepted theory of his time. Second: it was NOT user friendly. The book was written in a style that one had to be another doctor to process. Third, the technique was too complicated. There were different protocols for different problems.

Enter Gary Craig

One reader who did understand was Dr Gary Craig, whose doctorate was in Engineering. He distilled all of Dr Callahan’s work into a simple protocol that would “work on everything” that Callahan’s method would work on. He called his work EFT. His manual was released in the 1990’s. In the 2000’s, he would release his manual into public domain. His work is free for all to use.

Further Evolution

Dr Craig’s original EFT included tapping, some EMDR, and more tapping. It was called the “sandwich.” People using the technique started to notice that the EMDR wasn’t always necessary. As more people started using and teaching it, they went to a shorter form of tapping.

Others found new points that seemed to work better for them. Others started using kinesiology to help work with the body, as in Body Talk, or emotions, as in the Emotion Code.

My Customized Tapping Techniques

I use three different levels of tapping. On the 7 Minutes to happiness podcast, I experimented for a few months with one, two, and three points until finally deciding on one point on the breastbone.

In my ebook, How I Stop Anxiety in 2 Minutes (and have fun doing it), I teach a simple technique called “tap and complain” with my own nine preferred tapping points In my Amazon Book, I teach my own nine preferred points for tapping along with some hacks I learned to be happy before discovering tapping.

In my 7 Day Happiness Reboot, I teach my 9-point system and some of the hacks from the Amazon book in a structured way that is designed to reboot your brain for happiness in 7 Days.

In my 30 Day Intensive Life and Happiness Reboot, I teach a system that is expands on original EFT and uses a lot of different things. By the end of 30 days, the results can be life-changing. If you are interested in the 30 Day Intensive, email me at admin@7minutestohappiness for more details. I am currently doing this individually at a substantial discount from my normal coaching rate.

So How Does it Really Work, anyway?

Dr Craig’s original theory is that it clears “stuck emotions” from your body’s electrical system. He compares those stuck emotions to static on a TV with antenna reception. Dr Callahan called them “thought fields.” Dr Bradley Nelson, who developed a complicated system called “The Emotion Code,” believes we are simply using the technique to reconnect with repressed emotions. Once they are acknowledged, they resolve on their own.

In other words, nobody is sure how it “really works.” But as long as it works, I’m fine with it.

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Quick Origin Story

I grew up in an extremely dysfunctional home, but I never bought into the constant gaslighting and/or denigration, at least on a conscious level. Unfortunately, anything said to you while you are being yelled at or physically abused goes straight to your subconscious mind. When I learned about Adult Children of Alcoholics, it was like the proverbial “great weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.”

I learned that my underachievement and feelings of not being good enough were standard fare for ACOA’s. To me, it meant three things. First, there was nothing intrinsically wrong with me. Second, it wasn’t my fault. And third: I knew deep inside that I could fix what had been done to me.

Is it “Fair?”

One of the prevailing themes of ACOA’s and other adult children of dysfunctional homes is that “it isn’t fair.” The basic theme is “my parents were the ones who screwed up, but I have to pay for it.” To me, the answer is “yes and no.” It isn’t fair that we have to fix the damage our parents perpetrated on us, intentionally or unintentionally. But what IS fair is that we have the resources to do just that: repair the damage. Or at least most of it.

My Journey to Recovery

I had started “searching” eight years before I learned about ACOA. It was a breakthrough because I now knew it wasn’t my fault. But once I knew that, I also knew it was my responsibility to fix it. As the saying goes, “it certainly wasn’t going to fix itself.” I consumed more than 1000 tapes, books, and CD’s about fixing myself. I read a lot of books about transpersonal psychology, spirituality, motivation, fixing the subconscious mind, and other systems. I used self-hypnosis and “sleep learning” tapes. I did a great job of getting over my anger. But there was still something missing.

Enter EFT or Meridian Tapping

When I finally found out about EFT, which was the second generation form of meridian tapping, in 2000, it changed my life even more radically than finding out about ACOA had. I was about to do my first musical gig in over 15 years and wanted to vomit a full 24 hours before the gig. My then-wife had downloaded and printed the original EFT manual and asked me to look at it a few months earlier. I told her it was “BS” and that “you can’t heal deep-seated, long-standing problems in 10 minutes.

I had thrown the manual in a box on our bedroom floor and we both forgot about it. But it suddenly looked really good to me when I was desperate, so I tried it on my stage fright. Within 15 minutes, I reduced my stage fright from 13 on a scale of ten to 1.5. I knew I had something really powerful. I had turned myself from stage fright to feeling totally at home in 15 minutes.

I would immediately start using this in every aspect of my life. It works on some things and doesn’t on others. There isn’t always a “reason.” It either works or it doesn’t. But it has been the ultimate game-changer for me. After 23 years of doing meridian tapping, my biggest “problem” is figuring out what to work on.

So Why is it Called “7 Minutes to Happiness?”

The short answer: it only takes 7 minutes or less a day to change your life in ways you may think aren’t possible right now. All of my products, videos, lessons, and podcasts are in chunks of 7 minutes, or at least as close as I can get them to 7 minutes without compromising the integrity or quality of the material.

Each podcast episode starts with an issue to tackle, some information about how the issue most often becomes an issue, and a healing tapping session of around 3-4 minutes during the second portion of the podcast.

One of my “pet peeves” that I still have are answering system messages that say “we know your time is important to you” and leave you on hold for long periods of time. Because of this, I know your time really is important to you. I also know from my time as a massage teacher that attention spans have become drastically reduced because the internet has made it so easy to get information in a few clicks.

If I have to take more than 7 minutes to teach something, I feel it needs to be broken down into smaller chunks. So I try to keep everything under 7 minutes. I actually prefer 5 minute videos for classes so people can take a mental break and fully assimilate the information before moving on.

How to Get the Most out of the Podcast

The only real flaw in my 7 minute podcast is that you can get more out of it if you know a tapping system. I have experimented with different formats, and have found out the most efficient use of time during the podcast is to have you tap on your breastbone, wherever it feels right to you. It takes longer than 7 minutes to teach someone the full tapping technique verbally and people would get lost. It needs to be taught in a pdf or a video.

I have three paid resources for you in the product section. The first is an ebook called “How I Stop Anxiety Attacks in 2 Minutes (and Have Fun Doing It). it is available here for $7: How I Stop Anxiety Attacks in 2 Minutes (and Have Fun Doing It).

The second is my 7 Day Happiness Reboot. It is a series of pdf’s and videos that combine meridian tapping with a specific set of issues, affirmations, and meditations that can have an incredible effect on your happiness level in just seven days. It is available here for $99: 7 Day Happiness Reboot

The third is an Amazon book called 7 Life-Changing Hacks for Happiness. It is just what it says: 7 hacks that can increase your happiness level a lot. It is short and sweet with no fluff. It is available here for $7.99 in Kindle or $12.99 in paperback. 7 Life-Changing Hacks for Happiness.

My own tapping is slightly different than the original EFT manual, but if you want the original, you can get it free. The creator of EFT, Dr Gary Craig, put it into the public domain in the early 2000’s. It is available here: Original EFT Manual.

In conclusion, the best way to get the most out of the podcasts is to tap along with them. I will find issues you didn’t know you had. You will find the issues that are the most important to you. Every time you tap, you are helping yourself become happier, even if you don’t feel it right away. To me, meridian tapping is by far the 20th century’s biggest advance in the self-improvement field. Tap every day for even 30 days. You will see a big difference.

Thanks for reading. Now hop over to the podcast here: 7 Minutes to Happiness Podcast.

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