What’s the Cost? By Karen St. Clair, AAMET EFT Practitioner S


tress is taken for granted these days as “part of life.” And while there is such a thing as “healthy” stress that helps us grow, most of our stress is chronic, damaging, and unhealthy.


It could be costing you money, time or even your future. Here are 20 stress indicators that you may be experiencing in your daily life. Which ones can you relate to right now?


Mental Symptoms Diffi culty concentrating Trouble making decisions Negative outlook on life Anxious or racing thoughts Constant worrying


Emotional Symptoms General moodiness Irritability or short temper Feeling lonely and isolated Agitation, anger, and the inability to relax Feeling overwhelmed with life


Physical Symptoms Aches and pains in the body Bowel problems Nausea, dizziness, vertigo Chest pain, rapid heartbeat, pounding of the heart Loss of sex drive


Behavioral Symptoms Eating more or less Isolating yourself from others Procrastinating or neglecting life’s responsibilities Using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to relax, or in excess Nervous habits


Any one of these or a combination of two or more may be costing you your ability to move forward easily with your daily life.


We have 80,000 thoughts per day with more than 85% being thoughts that we thought yesterday and the day before that. It can go on and on, day in and day out as the cost of stress grows larger by the minute.


Emotional costs are not always measured in dollars and cents, such as behaviors that can cost us that pay raise or promotion. They can show up in our lives in many different forms like the costs cre- ated by fear of using an elevator or fear of driving on the highway.


I decided to test this theory by creating a small group of adults to fi nd out what the perceived costs of stress were in their lives.


Each participant was asked to share what was costing them the most emotionally in their daily lives. The group’s feelings seemed to fl ow easily as they shared their responses:


“My anger and frustration with my job is costing me the promotion that I deserve.” (Monica)


“Cigarettes and booze are costing me a decent relationship.” (Dean)


“My IBS condition is costing me the joy of taking a vacation because I can’t travel.” (Keith)


“Believing that I’m not good enough, keeps me in an abusive relationship and costs me my freedom.” (Rebecca)


They could clearly identify the emotional costs that were


translating into daily stress, but felt powerless to change it. By iden- tifying what their personal costs were, they had tapped into their potential to feel the riches of unlimited emotional currency.


“How would you like to turn these emotional costs into stress-free currency?” I asked.


“YES” won the day! This, being the fi rst day of the group, we chose one topic to


start our EFT Tapping series; Dean was the fi rst to raise his hand! “Cigarettes and booze are costing me a decent relationship.”


As we worked through some of the preliminary questions, Dean shared that he started drinking alcohol and smoking ciga- rettes when he was 13.


“What was happening in your life at 13?” I asked. He said, “My Dad died suddenly in a car accident.”


10 ELM Maine - November/December 2017


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36