When I finished running through my 2018 sales data and realized I had a 350% increase in revenues over 2017’s, I had to do a double-take. 350% can’t be right! I went through my numbers again. 350% was right. That number just looked crazy! How did that even happen?
It all started in March 2018. As a glass artist, I had recently taken a class and returned home feeling excited, but also feeling stuck. A recent visit to my chiropractor reminded me that she had an on-site Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) coach. I didn’t know what that was, but I heard the word ‘coach’ and I was sold. Surely a coach can help me get “unstuck”! I Googled EFT. Turns out EFT, or “tapping”, is a clinically-proven technique of rapidly tapping on specific acupressure points on the face and body, while focusing on a specific problem, to create new neural pathways in the brain and release hidden barriers, limiting beliefs and stress. It’s kind of like a pain-free, needle-free, form of acupuncture.
I’ve been a glass artist for many years and never felt like my art was quite good enough or unique enough, I wasn’t formally trained, blah, blah, blah… all stories I told myself about my artist self. Because I believed these stories, I subconsciously decided that no one should see or experience my creations. Sure, I’ve sold some pieces here or there and published a thing or two, but nothing worth quitting a day job for!
But I discovered there was more to that story I was telling myself: I couldn’t make a living as an artist. And that was that. Since I was a kid, I’ve gotten plenty of messages from family, the media and well-meaning strangers telling me that I couldn’t make a living as an artist, that artists starve or that the only artists who are famous are dead ones. I bought into those messages–and never pushed to put my art out there!
Over the years, I was serious about improving my craft, but I didn’t put into it as much as I wanted…never enough time or money. When I took that class in early 2018, I saw many of my peers–with the same number of years’ experience as I had–who sped by me and created for themselves, artistically/professionally, what I was too afraid to do for myself (nope, not good enough, can’t be done). And that’s when I realized my “stuckness” was rooted in regret. With the help of my EFT coach, I (literally) had to sit with the icky feeling of regret and look it head on. She helped me to look at all the specific aspects that came along with regret and we tapped on them.
Imagine, me, an artist who never did a 5-day, outdoor fine art show before in my life…whose constant thought loop was ’what if it rains?’, ‘what if no one buys anything?’, ‘it’s too expensive’. I took the risk and spent the money on the booth, invested in my displays, spent hours (sometimes all-nighters) blowing glass in my studio to prepare. And it rained. Like historic levels! And it was record-high hot! And visitor attendance was down. But I did it! Visitors bought my art!
Make no mistake, EFT is not a one-and-done-everything-is-perfect-now approach. Let me be clear on that. Between EFT sessions, I practiced tapping on my own and kept a journal of what I was working on. Over time, I noticed my self-talk began shifting from “can’t be done” to “how can I do this?” and I began making different choices. Each decision lead to another, which lead to new opportunities. I began taking risks. I did that big outdoor fine arts event. And then another. I taught a class at a museum. I did more art events. All because tapping helped me to rewrite the stories I’d told myself.
Working with a certified EFT coach (or practitioner) helped me to notice specific thoughts, events, and beliefs, to investigate how those beliefs helped or hindered me and to see how they showed up in my life. Learning how to use tapping was powerful, because it helped me to clear the stories that blocked my way and kept me stuck. I found tapping to be a profoundly life-changing tool. So much so, that I wanted to learn all about it and share it with others. In December 2018, I became an AAMET-certified EFT practitioner. Tapping helped me to uncover and rewrite the stories I had been telling myself for decades. Harnessing the power of EFT is how I improved my sales revenues by 350%. If tapping could help me do that, I wonder what it could do for you?