MoodPanda is a happiness tracking website and App, to help people track and share how they’re feeling with a lovely, friendly and anonymous community of people
Have a very Merry Christmas, team-panda! Here's a little puzzle image for you - can you find the panda among the snowmen?
Remember: if you need a break from festivities, or you're feeling lonely over the next couple of weeks (Christmas isn't all fun and joy for everyone), the MoodPanda community is always here -www.moodpanda.com
If you feel like you need more urgent help visit the Samaritans for some telephone contacts and crisis help
http://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help-you/contact-us
Finally, if you wish to give us a gift at MoodPanda HQ at Xmas, you can donate to become a Panda Supporter!
http://www.moodpanda.com/Supporters/
Many thanks for being a part of our amazing community! Here's to a happy 2016 smile emoticon
MoodPanda has helped me through really tough times. The community is full of amazing, supportive people who I would never have met without MoodPanda. Thanks for everything.
We are all going to turn to dust and our vanity is so often just in vain, but being kind is actually one of the things that has a little bit of meaning, isn’t it? Being nice to the people around you. That is one of the things that is really worth fighting for. Everything else is vanity.
James Allen, the train dispatcher at St. Albans station
DIY Emotional First Aid - EFT - Interviewing Karin Davidson
Once, on an anxious visit to my shrink, I was trying to explain the source of my distress and was so near breaking down that I began to employ tapping…part of the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). He obviously had not heard of this and looked at me as though I had gone mad and said, “Stop that tapping, it’s annoying, I can’t concentrate!” EFT is an alternative or complementary technique being used worldwide, but not yet embraced by the medical mainstream, so I was not surprised.
- Fears and phobias
- Depression
- Cravings
- Headaches
- Body aches & pains
MoodPanda's Blog Author, Annie, spoke to Karin Davidson - a prominent EFT practitioner and trainer in the U.S. about EFT and how it can potentially help with psychological issues.
Karin explains that EFT is “like a psychological acupuncture technique” though she is quick to point out that EFT practitioners are not necessarily licensed professionals, but rather “alternative” or “complementary” medical professionals.
The National Health Service (NHS) in the UK has both recognized and recommended new clinical research on the efficacy of this recent “complementary” approach and is poised to begin teaching the techniques to practitioners and then on to patients. Studies in the US on stress relief and the mental and physical health benefits of EFT are being undertaken.
How does EFT Work?
Davidson explains that EFT is “all about stimulating meridians.” These invisible pathways for energy run in linear pathways much like blood runs through veins. An EEG (electroencephalogram for the brain) or EMG (electromyogram for the electrical activity in muscle) indicates that these pathways exist.
“Your reaction to something is an emotion; if you have negative emotions like loneliness, depression, anxiety, or fear, you get an energy blockage, it’s just like having a blockage in a vein. EFT is like a bulldozer that pushes through that.”
See some demonstration videos.
EFT is done in tandem with the repetition of specific statements where one identifies an event that continues to cause stress and anxiety and then one creates phrases to be said aloud during the tapping that “reprograms” the conscious and subconscious.
The statements can have MANY variations, here's an example:
Step 1 (Set-Up)
Said while tapping side of hand under the little finger (called Karate Chop)
SAY: “Even though I have this issue________ , I love and accept myself.”
Use phrase generator
Step 2 (Reminder)
Said while tapping on all 7 of the tapping points
SAY: “Sometimes when I remember________________I feel lost and out of control”
Tapping words
Step 3 (Reminder)
Again, said while tapping on all 7 tapping points
SAY: I know that when I remember______________, it makes me feel ________and holds me back – and I want to let it go.
Tapping words
In regard to self-help tapping, Davidson emphasizes that it is likely that there are many layers to the entrenched hurts and difficulties that we experience and that consultation with a professional EFT practitioner is likely to be necessary. She says “Sometimes people get rid of most of the anxiety, but things are layered and there are different reactions to all parts of it…sometimes they all come tumbling down."
She adds that, “Depression is harder to get rid of than PTSD, depression is an inky pool; it has filled their whole vision of the entire world…with a single event, you can desensitize that event.” New neural pathways, or new ways of thinking and seeing have to be forged for those with chronic depression, but all conditions can have a marked positive response to EFT.
For more information on EFT, here is a free manual:
Find practitioners Alternative (and Completmentary) Healthcare Professionals International www.ahpint.com and www.chpint.com
Blog Post by Annie Thompson-Bert - Blog Author, MoodPanda
Annie is a retired English teacher and writer in Michigan and mother to a college-aged son and two Siamese kitties.
One time, I called my psychiatrist on the phone and upon his picking up, I said, “Hello doctor, this is Ann Hedonia.” The joke being that my name is Ann and that he knew I was in the lower depths of depression and might find my pun amusing. I knew intellectually that it was funny, but it brought me no pleasure or laughter.
Indeed, Anhedonia is no laughing matter, as this absence of ability to experience happiness, joy or pleasure goes hand in hand with the diagnosis of depression - and enjoyment and engagement with people, places and events is a basic requirement for a full and happy life.
I will illustrate with a personal example...
Some time ago, I suffered crippling, unfathomable losses. I was in a black hole of depression that sucked all of the light and happiness from my life. I could see that happiness was going on all around me, beauty and goodness was there in abundance, but not for me.
In the part of my brain where the lights were still on, I thought to myself that these months…that had now stretched into years were going to be big black smudges of nothing in my future memories. There would be no good times to look back upon from the time of my imprisonment in the dungeon of depression.
So, one day, while out driving by a seaside farm area in the state of Maine, I saw a herd of silly horses, nickering and whinnying at each other as they ran across a clover-dappled field, kicking up their heels. I pulled the car over and went over to the fence and rested upon it while I watched them have a tremendous time. I knew that normally that I would be delighted and probably laughing, but I could not.
I decided I would take in all the beauty of the day…the salty ocean breeze, the smell of sweet clover and pine trees, the shiny coats of the horses under a warm summer sun, and their goofiness and put it into my mind and heart even if I did not feel anything.
I hyper-focused on every detail of the scene. Sometimes I had to go over and over a detail in my mind before it seemed to take root…I would have to distract myself away from darkness in order to do it.
And temporarily, I had a little relief from the horror of my memories. The depression had not left me, by any means, but I came away a little lighter. In subsequent, darker days, I would summon that afternoon up from memory for a momentary respite from sadness.
I began using this technique wherever I could and indeed, began forcing myself to focus on making one happy memory per day, whether I wanted to or not.
The most important memory of all was of a young woman in a remote northern Ontario town who served up my sandwich at a Subway. Her spirit was so full of light and happiness that my world pivoted violently and I felt the sudden sea change happen in my mood. The darkness was done. I can see her and the place in minute detail in my mind’s eye now, so many years later and I smile, inside and out and frequently send her thanks.
And do you know what? I can’t remember what it felt like to be in that darkness. Even if I set my mind to remembering, I can’t. It was a great way to keep in practice for when the emotional storm was over and now, when times get rough; I have loads of happy memories on which to focus when it turns dark again.
GIVE IT A GO!
Push the pause button on darkness for a while each day and force yourself to focus on one good, beautiful, funny or otherwise positive thing. It can be a bird or a flower or a lovely piece of pie, a smile from someone on the street, whatever you fancy….just concentrate on it and take it into yourself for future appreciation.
Blog Post by Annie Thompson-Bert - Blog Author, MoodPanda
Annie is a retired English teacher and writer in Michigan and mother to a college-aged son and two Siamese kitties.
Images:
"Mother & Son - Colts Neck NJ" by joiseyshowaa
"Clover" by Evan Leeson
As part of our push to build TeamPanda, we're very happy to welcome Annie on board!
Annie is a retired English teacher and writer in Michigan and mother to a college-aged son and two Siamese kitties.
Annie will bring you fascinating posts about Family, Mental health, and Happiness, and we're very proud to have her on board
Welcome to TeamPanda, Annie!
