The process taps (literally) into supressed uneasy feelings stored in the unconscious part of the mind during childhood, especially during the first seven years. At such a young age, the child had little experience of how to cope with psychological pain. Gradually, that stored negative feeling becomes overlaid with new experiences, pleasant and unpleasant. As far as we human beings are concerned, we seem to have an innate maxim of “The show must go on” so we continue to live our lives and may eventually have no memory of that incident in our conscious mind. However, it is still present in the unconscious mind where it imposes strategies designed to prevent a recurrence of the original emotional pain.
As an example, suppose a harassed parent living under all kinds of practical pressure, finally snaps and yells at their four-years-old child “For goodness’ sake, just get out of my way! I wish you had never been born!”. The child is shocked and has no concept that what has been said is anything other than a statement of truth. It is taken literally. Thus, a negative imprint has occurred. The unfortunate child interprets it as their parent no longer loves them and maybe they never did. That is overwhelming for the child and they have no means of processing the thought rationally. So that thought becomes a belief and, as such, influences what they think and what they feel and how they behave. Fast forward to when the child is an adult; “I’ve never really been confident”. “I’ve never been that popular at work. I’m never sure whether my work is up to the mark so I stay late and take work home because I don’t want the boss to feel I’m incompetent.”
By tapping on certain parts of the head, face and hands while saying out loud a statement tailored to the issue, the imprint can be loosened and eradicated. A typical statement could be “Even though I lack confidence, I love myself”
