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Tapping on the symptoms of a cold

·3 mins
simple-eft

Last weekend I’ve been enjoying the delights of a cold, although I must confess I haven’t enjoyed them that much. I made a few desultory attempts to relieve some of the symptoms with EFT but I didn’t get very far. The thumping headache I had on Saturday kept thumping whatever I did, eventually I sought comfort in some asprin and paracetamol. I wasn’t much better on Sunday, but hoped that by Monday the worst would be over and I’d be heading back to feeling fine. No such luck. I felt better but still had the overall feeling of being washed out that I usually associate with illness.

In an effort to boost my spirits I wandered off for a walk around my local park hoping that the fresh air and natural surroundings would help. They did, but not as much as I would have liked. To boost their effect I wandered up to the cafe to enjoy a therapeutic cappuchino. Whilst enjoying my drink and the view of the park I decided that I would finally adopt a systematic approach to the cold. As a first step I wrote down the following list of symptoms and their intensity.

  • wandering temperature (6)
  • sore back (4)
  • headache (3)
  • aching muscles (4)
  • feeling lacklustre (8)
  • feeling washed out (8)
  • sweating (4)
  • sore chest when I coughed (6)
  • feeling that I can’t be bothered (6)
  • bright light hurting my eyes (4)
  • feeling weak (8)
  • feeling tired (6)

I was a little surprised to find so many descriptions of my overall state - lacklustre, washed out, tired, weak. Before I took the trouble to write all this down I had only paid attention to my specific physical symptoms, such as the various aches and pains.

I shouldn’t have been surprised by this, I’m not ill very often, but when I am, I find the washed-out and cant-be-bothered feelings very tiresome. I can usually cope with physical stuff as just symptoms knowing that they’ll pass or I can get them treated.

I decided that once I got home I would systematically tap my way through the list to see if that would help. Once I made it back from the park I settled down to some sustained tapping starting, with the overall states - lacklustre, washed out and weak. I tapped three or four rounds on each feeling, by the time I’d finished with ‘weak’ I noticed a distinct tingling sensation and I was yawning a lot. I took the yawning as a hint and took a 30 minute nap. I woke up feeling a lot better! Most of the discrete physical symptoms were still there but much reduced, the biggest change was the the lacklustre feelings were completely gone. I felt quite cheerful and well even though I was still not quite physically well.

It was an odd combination having a sense of wellbeing whilst being ill. Even now, a few days after doing this tapping the infection hasn’t cleared entirely, I still feel very well and I appreciate loosing the ‘washed out’ and ‘can’t be bothered’ aspects of the illness, now that they’re gone all I have left is symptoms which is just stuff to deal with.

Next time I have a cold (I’m not in a hurry about this you understand) I’ll try tapping on the lacklustre states before I even think about working on the symptoms.