I want to share this story about how I used EFT to help my son with his grief about his fish that died.
My son is 6 and has had his beta fish for about 2 months. He really like it and was involved with its care and bowl cleaning, etc. While he was a daycamp my partner and I cleaned the fish bowl. Unfortunately, she put the fish back into the bowl and the temperature was wrong (too hot!) he died within a minute or so. We put him in cool water and sent energy, and prayed over him. ( I wasn't sure how to tap on a tiny fish so I didn't.)
So a few hours later I went to get my son at camp. I tapped for him as a surrogate while driving on my way there. I wanted him to grieve but not be angry or hurt in such a way that he would be distancing.
"Even though my fish died cause my moms made a mistake I'm a really cool kid and I know my moms love me.
Even though I feel really sad cause my fish died I know that I'm a really cool kid."
Even though my fish died I know it was an accident and my moms really love me.
Even though I feel so sad about my fish I know that I'm a great person and my moms loveme"
So when I saw him we sat for a few minutes quietly with his blanket(I brought it with me) and he cried big sobs after I had apologized and told him about the accident. As we were driving he was sobbing again and I gave him tissues and asked him if he needed me to stop and sit with him. He said no. I was so thrilled because he stayed in his feelings and grieved He expressed feelings of responsibility for the fish's death. I assured him he was not responsible cause we had screwed up but I saw him saying"it's my fault" as an expression of his role as the fish's guardian. So in that respect I was really proud of him. I was so happy because he was sorrowful but not angry which is the response I had expected.
So now its two days later. He walked by the place yesterday where we had buried the fish. He was sad and weepy for just a few moments and then it passed. No angry response which is what I had expected. EFT is a great tool that allowed us to connect to feelings rapidly and in a helpful way.
Nancy Perez