I met with a delightful woman the other day who was very poetic with her language. She was talking about a friend who died suddenly, and she was telling me what a wonderful person he was: how much he loved life and celebrated every moment, and what an inspiration he was. She said that she would love to be more like him.

“He spread joy wherever he went. You know, he was filled with ‘Sacred Sauce!’”

“’Sacred Sauce’? Where did you get that expression?” I asked.

She said: “I just made it up! Feel free to use it.”

I just love the idea that when we are truly alive and showing up for life that we are filled with “sacred sauce!” Wouldn’t it be wonderful to simply set aside whatever troubles that came up since Fall 2010, and start fresh. If we aren’t dwelling on the anger and hurt and disappointment of the past, there is no blockage and the flow of “sacred sauce” is easy and effortless.

You might be familiar with a Yiddish word that has slipped into the English vernacular. The word is: “kvetch” and it means complaining about life over and over again. With the help of wonderful techniques that I learned from my friend and mentor, Lindsay Kenny, I have come up with a variation of one of Lindsay’s techniques that I call: “Kvetch Tapping.” In order to get to the freedom of flowing with your “Sacred Sauce,” you may very well need to give voice to all the negative statements floating around in your head.

For example, I was working with a client I’ll call “Mary” who was very depressed. Her head was filled with very negative thoughts about herself and life in general. With traditional counseling, I usually encourage a person to substitute more positive statements for the negative thoughts. In this case, the negative thoughts were so pervasive that my client needed to vent her negative feelings before we could move on.

I told “Mary” that she could “kvetch” and complain all she wanted, as long as she tapped while she did it. So, we set up the general statement that “Life Sucks,” and I encouraged Mary to come up with every negative statement she could think of that would support that statement.

KC: (3X) Even though Life Sucks and I feel frightened, depressed and filled with hopelessness, I am willing to accept the possibility that I might learn to accept myself anyway.

EB: I can barely get out of bed in the morning.

SE: I can’t do my job.

UE: I don’t know how to make it through the day.

UN: I hate my life.

Ch: I’m afraid my friends are getting tired of me.

CB: I’m afraid to be alone.

UA: I don’t think I’ll ever feel better.

RC: I can’t sleep.

WR: My life sucks.

TH: My life really sucks!

After several rounds of constant “kvetching,” Mary began to see some humor and absurdity in her situation. After she evened out her energy, she was able to insert more and more positive statements.

EB: The weather is beautiful.

SE: I have great friends who support me.

UE: I played with a cute puppy today.

UN: I got a nice compliment from a stranger today.

Ch: All I have to do is make it through today.

CB: I’m learning to enjoy my own company.

UA: I know I will feel better soon.

RC: I choose to sleep like a baby.

WR: My life doesn’t suck at all.

TH: My life is good!

So, go ahead, do some “kvetch” tapping, but don’t forget to add positive statements at the end after the negative statements have been neutralized.

And don’t forget, if you happen to be in the Chicago area, our next Borrowing Benefits EFT Tapping Group will be held on the last Sunday of the month, September 25, 2011 from 3 to 4:30 PM on the north side of Chicago. Call or e-mail Kiya for more details and to reserve your space: (773) 880-5492 or email