By Steve Wells
I used to believe that I was the kind of person who took half an hour to get to sleep, sometimes up to an hour. That's because this is the way it had always been. Like for my whole life. Go to sleep then lie there for as long as it takes to get to sleep.
This sleep ritual was just something I managed around because it had always been like that. I couldn't even conceive that it could be different. Until IEP.
I often used to joke how my wife Louise and I would be in bed in the middle of a conversation and she would for example ask me "What do you think about that?" and I would reply "I think such and such, what about you?" and her reply would be a snore! Ok, not a snore but she WAS asleep!
It was a bit frustrating and annoying to me that people like Louise could just drop off to sleep at a moment's notice (often without even a moment's notice!) while I had to lie there in a semi-asleep state for however long it took to drop into a deeper sleep. However, that was just the way it was. Until IEP.
For those who came in late, IEP stands for Intentional Energy Process, an incredible approach I discovered for using deliberate self-directed intentions to release the emotional attachments behind our problems and to restore our disturbed body energy to balance and flow. The IEP process, which engages the power of the unconscious mind to release emotional blocks, works wonderfully on its own and can also be combined with tapping, which I call Intention Tapping.
To understand what happened to my sleep habits you have to also understand the IEP process can be linked to a cue word, so that instead of having to form the full intention statements to release your emotional attachments or restore your body's energy balance and flow, you can simply think or say the cue word to direct your unconscious mind to do the whole process for you (thanks Dr Larry Nims for his pioneering work in this area).
So here's what happened:
One night I woke up around 3 am with a racing mind filled with all kinds of negative thoughts. I was worrying about a number of things in my life, I've forgotten exactly what, but let's say finances or the state of my business or things I should have been doing that I wasn't doing, since these are the sorts of things I used to worry about.
Instead of just gently tapping as I would have in the past, or using the long version of IEP, I focused on the most prominent thought that was worrying me and simply thought my cue word "love", focusing it at the thought and the emotional attachments that had me hooked.
Steve comments:
For those of you who are new to this process, the "long" version of IEP would be to focus on the worrying thought, let's call it X, and mentally form the intention "I release all my emotional attachments to X", then to do this for all negative thoughts and attachments that arise. In addition, you would notice any disturbances in the body, notice where they are, let's call that Y, and form the intention "I restore the right energy balance and flow to Y". Then you use these processes interchangeably with other core intentions until you work through all the aspects of the problem. Having a cue word greatly shortens this process.
Back to my sleep situation:
Immediately after using the cue word on the most worrying thought, another thought popped up in its place. So I mentally repeated my cue word "love" and focused it on that thought and it's apparent negative emotional consequences.
Instantly, another negative thought arose (I am sure many of you are familiar with this over thinking mind with negative thoughts coming thick and fast!). I met that thought the same as the previous one, with my cue word.
Another thought arose and I used my cue word. Then another, which received the same treatment. And another. And another. And another.
And then my mind was still.
Within seconds I was asleep. The entire process wouldn't have taken more than 3 minutes.
The next night as I was settling into my bed to go to sleep, I noticed some negative thoughts in my mind. I decided to once again apply my IEP cue word to release the attachments of those thoughts. It took about 2 minutes and I drifted off easily into a deep sleep.
The next night I just went to sleep within a couple of minutes of my head hitting the pillow.
I don't recall exactly when in the next couple of days I realised my whole life-long pattern of having to take at least half an hour to get to sleep had been broken, however I do remember the incredible feeling of realising this had been just a pattern which built a belief, and that belief no longer had control over me.
I am now the kind of person who can get to sleep in just a couple of minutes. And if I am awake, or I wake up in the middle of the night, I have a powerful process to release any emotionally attached negative thoughts that might be trying to disturb my slumber.
Here's the thing:
If all the IEP did for me was to change my sleep patterns and give me a way to get to sleep more easily and quickly, that in itself would have been life-changing (Lots of people have been writing lately about how powerfully a good night's sleep can affect our lives and how disturbed sleep can do just the opposite). But that's not all it has done.
Seeing the ease by which a life-long pattern like this could be overcome has caused me to question just how many things I have believed about myself and my life are just that: beliefs. Emotional attachments that can be released.
And it's been working:
Just today I found and released a massive negative belief that had affected my writing, making it much harder than it needed to be for much of my life. Now writing is fun again! I'll tell you all about it in a future article.
Here's the biggest thing:
IEP has helped me to realise in my bones the truth that thoughts are just thoughts, they have no power over you at all. They only appear to have power because of the emotional attachments and body energy disturbances that have become connected to them. Release those attachments and restore the energy balance and flow and the thought has no power over you at all.
Of course this may make logical sense to you, as it did to me for years, but I'd love to have you have the same experience with this that I've now had repeatedly with the IEP:
First you are hooked and emotionally upset. You notice that you are upset so you use IEP - I prefer to use it with tapping, so, Intention Tapping - to release the emotional attachments that have upset you and to restore your body's energy balance and flow. So you unhook yourself. This is also what EFT and SET tapping do when they are working.
Next comes a time where you notice you are being hooked or triggered as it is happening, and you use Intention Tapping in that moment to release the emotional attachments and maintain a good body energy balance and flow.
Next you catch the emotionally attached thought as it's about to hook you, and release it before it can even hook you.
Then you do it again. And again. And again.
Then comes the time when you have the realisation "They are all just thoughts! They have no real power at all!"
And that is a very very good day.
Suddenly your whole life and future look different, and you get a glimpse of what real emotional freedom might be.
I would love to help you to have this experience.
Here's two ways we might do that: Face to face in a live workshop or via an online program.
I have live workshops coming up soon in Auckland NZ, Strasbourg France, Lake Garda Italy, London UK, and Perth Australia. You can find all the details below.
Then there's online:
If you missed my recent Power of Intention Tapping online program, you can access the recordings here at half price:
https://steve-wells.mykajabi.com/offers/ad76o5QU
If you have anxiety you may find my Overcome Anxiety with Intention Tapping program helpful. You can access the recordings here, also half-price until the end of the month: https://steve-wells.mykajabi.com/offers/9ixLFQXF
Many of my current subscribers already have access to those online programs, and if so I encourage you to review them.
The great news is I am putting together a brand new program on Using Intention Tapping to Overcome Self-Sabotage. Stay tuned for more details coming soon.
Warmly,
Steve Wells
Learn Intention Tapping at a Live Workshop: Click here for worldwide events