Thursday 10:30 pm
Tomorrow I’m going to the dentist for a filling and scale and polish. I don’t mind the filling too much it’s the scaling I don’t like. Most of the dentists I’ve been too like to dig away like frustrated navvies while I lie there wondering whether they are going to pull my teeth out.
As I think about it my level of discomfort at the prospect is at a seven. In keeping with the advice that I give to my clients about using EFT to prepare for future challenges I decide to take a dose of my own medicine. I just tap on the EFT points with my fingertips whilst letting my mind dwell on tomorrow’s appointment. I don’t use any fancy setup phrases, I just tap and imagine lying back on that chair whilst a charming young lady in a white coat chips away with a chisel.
After a few rounds of tapping my discomfort level is down to between two and three. I decide to up the ante and imagine the proceedure as vividly as I can whilst tapping.
In the waiting room feeling apprehensive (tap, tap, tap), climbing the stairs to the surgery and siting in the chair presents no bad feeling. Once there the image of the descaling implement come to mind - a sharp hook on a handle, bright metallic and menacing hovers in my field of vision (… tap, tap, tap). I tap through several rounds whilst thinking of this instrument of torture. Now in my imagination she’s digging into my gums (tap, tap, tap) and it’s uncomfortable (tap, tap, tap), it’s going to hurt (tap, tap, tap).
Friday 11am
It went quite well. I was fairly comfortable throughout and I didn’t break into a sweat like last time. Things have moved on since my last scale and polish, instead of manually chipping away at my tartar the dentist inserted what felt like a small rotivator and mechanically gouged away at the back of my teeth. A bit disconcerting but not as bad as the manual method. I only needed to remind myself to relax my hands a couple of times.
If reading this has made you a little uncomfortable it might be worth visiting your local EFT or NLP therapist so that going the dentist might be a little more comfortable.
