On a hike with my family this winter, the path forward was flooded. Up till then we'd been able to skirt the really muddy patches and puddles, but when we got to this point it was deep water all about. We couldn't go on without totally soaking our shoes.
It seemed that we'd have to go back the way we came. But that was a long muddy way. We were actually quite near the end of our trail.
We tried and tried to find a passage through, and had a heated debate about going back. But finally we just took our shoes off and waded through the swamp water.
It was actually my favorite part of the hike! The mud on the trail was just a bit squishy between my toes, and it was a rather warm day, so the water wasn't too terribly cold. At the end we found a faucet and washed the mud off. No harm done.
This struck me as a good metaphor for therapy! We've all got these boggy spots in our psyches. Flooded with emotion, if you will. We get swamped. They seem so unpleasant and impassable that we'll go to just about any lengths to avoid them, even when the direct path is straight through.
Many people are terrified of 'getting into it'. They feel that if ever they start crying they'll never be able to stop. They'll end up in the madhouse. Same thing goes for expressing anger or rage.
Most often the only way out is through.
What makes EFT so great is that it's like draining the swamp. You never sink in up to your neck, and the little bit of wading we do turns out to be not so bad. Ankle deep at best and then we're out. Okay, that's not a perfect metaphor, but I still like it.
