Just in case you want to jog your memory of Monday’s AMA… here are the MAIN things I hope you took away:

• You don’t have to believe every thought in your head or obey it. When that voice says, I don’t know enough. Who am I? I’m still in the same place. What’s your rebuttal? What are you going to practice saying back?

• When something uncomfortable comes up, practice saying COOL. Ooh, I’m feeling this not-enoughness. Cool. Get excited. Work on it. It’s not, Oh no, it’s true. It’s, Ooh, cool, a thing that doesn’t feel comfortable. Let me work on it.

• Have a proactive healing list. Write down the things you’re struggling with and make a date to work on them. Because I guarantee you will get a client who says the literal exact thoughts you were having last week. And you’ll feel confident working on it because you just led yourself through it.

• Do the work before your sessions. I tap before every single client and tune into what I’m carrying that makes me feel not adequate enough to work with that person. Sometimes one round is enough to go, Wait. This works! We need the constant reminders.

• Give your body a roadmap when you tap. Never go in going, I don’t know where this is gonna go. Part of being trauma-informed is having a clear expectation. I’m going to tap on the feeling. I’m going to voice the worst of it. Then I’m going to do one round of What If and call in the new.

• Listen. Let Go. Embody. Listen to the present. Exaggerate that past, old, yucky voice. Then call in the new. We need that three-stage cycle.

• Tapping’s not about negativity or positivity. It’s about honesty. Feeling inadequate isn’t negative. It’s just how I feel right now. We don’t have to get a client below a 3 before we can ask, What else is honestly true?

• What else is true? A client can still be at an 8 AND something else can be true. What if this is just a feeling that passes? What if I can feel really bad right now and feel better an hour from now? What if the feeling doesn’t control what I do with my day? We’re not putting positive words in their mouth. We’re finding what is honestly true.

• Save the last 15 minutes of your session to redirect. Even if they’re still in it. Even if there’s more work to do. What do you want to take from this memory? What do you want to remember as we move away from this back into our day? What do you want to take away from this session? What do you want to feel? What do you want to open to? Then use their exact words.

• With trauma, look for the micro-frame. Sometimes it’s not the thing we call the trauma. It’s that tiny moment where we sense someone else’s discomfort, disappointment or upset and we abandon ourselves to make them comfortable again. Slow it down. Find the frame where they lose I’m in my body, I’m in my power, tap there, then rewind back to safety.