Kate: Hello and welcome to a short episode of The Gale Hill Radio Hour. I'm Kate Jones, here with what I hope is a soothing salve for chronic anxiety. It comes courtesy of Jondi Whitis, a master trainer in EFT, the technique commonly known as tapping.
Jondi works with children and adults to help them feel better fast. Recently, she and I did an interview about dealing with emotions that make us feel bad.
In this short excerpt from our conversation, Jondi begins by answering a question about the prevalence of anxiety and its cause.
Jondi: I don't think we've ever had a greater percentage of people who describe themselves as feeling anxious. And in the past I used to hear them say, “I'm worried. I'm worried all the time.” Now that word has changed to anxious.
Kate: Wow. So how do you define what's going on in the world, what we're feeling about what's going on in the world?
Jondi: Well, in professional terms, I think there's chronic anxiety from unrest and uncertainty. And in Jondi speak, I think I'd say, “It's everything all at once, all the time, every day.”
Kate: I like that. So the other question is, what can we do about it to help ourselves and the world?
Jondi: Well, that is the million dollar question. I suspect there's quite a few answers out there, but a lot of them share what I would call common sense and universal truths, as well as some modern solutions. The first thing everyone, I think, could agree on is if you find out what it is that upsets you the most or gives you worries, then you're going to have a better chance of looking at it squarely and resolving it, of saying to yourself things like, “Well, I'm not sure that's true, but it sure does feel that way,” or “I'm not sure this is anything that's in my control. Then again, so much is not. So maybe I can tell the truth, very simply the truth about, 'Well, I do feel out of control, and yet I know that's not in my control.' And therefore, well, what could I do about that very upsetting thing that's outside of my control?”
So these are actually kind of cognitive habits. Thankfully, we also have much more. Modern medicine would say the last 30 years, especially the last ten, that says, you know, there's something called the mind-body connection, which tells us how that cognitive information of “I'm really upset” is binging off. That's my professional word, binging off.
Kate: It sounds very professional!
Jondi: Isn't it?
The feelings, which is also another word for sensations and emotions. These are all different things slightly. All of that is binging back and forth and back and forth. And if we don't stop and say, “Wait a minute, let's see what exactly is going on,” then we're going to be encouraged just to do it faster and faster because this information deluge is coming at us from everywhere. So I don't think we're encouraged to spend a lot of time sitting with, taking a moment, take five, take a breath. I don't think we're encouraged to do that. But in the last 30 years, we've learned how important it is for our body to be part of this solution. And that's where mind-body, I say, well, it's probably better to say body-mind, because if we treat the body, it's going to be a faster path to the mind. I often say that the cognitive, the prefrontal cortex, is the last to know, right? This newest part of our evolutionary brain is the last to know. So if you want quick results, if you want to feel better fast, maybe we should not start here.
Kate: Interesting. You have said that all of us are healing agents. All of us can make it better. Quote unquote: “It all starts with me.”
Jondi: I own it. Yes.
Kate: “It's all an inside job.” I think those are such empowering thoughts.
Jondi: Thank you. I do, too. And for a world that feels like it's out of control and I am out of power and there's nothing I can do, isn't it very empowering to go, “Wait a minute, I am in control of me. I am in control of what I'm thinking, what I'm choosing to do about it.” And in that we go all the way to the front of that paragraph, “I am a healing agent for myself.” And even better news, I can be a healing agent for others by showing up as my peaceful best self.
[end of excerpt]
Kate: This is Kate again, hoping that we all are gaining control of the stuff that's coming at us. I think it's wonderful to think that becoming our best selves helps other people, too.
If you want to hear the interview in its entirety, please go to episode 80, titled “Emotional Well-Being with Jondi Whitis. In the meantime, I hope you have an anxiety-free day knowing that you're in charge of you. Thank you for listening to The Gale Hill Radio Hour.
