The Oaxaca Project

This little video is my tribute to Leo, a dear loving soul, who passed away Sept 12, 2010 from cancer. His true gift to the world was his ability to smile, laugh and even dance through the majority of his illness.

I hope his little dance helps each of us remember that to dance through life with joy is our choice.

Bless you Leo!

Dance, Dance, Dance!!!

Luis after using Tappy in hospital for a few days told me he was sad to leave him behind. Thanks to the donations I received I could give him a Tappy of his very own.

Look at the excitement on his face and he took HIS Tappy out of the bag. Now he has a soft and cuddly reminder to tap.

Happy Tapping Luis!

Luis Gets His Tappy

Happy Tapping Luis!

Seeing Rodolfo today after not seeing him for 2 years was incredible but bittersweet because he was in oncology again. He is back for studies because his stomach has been bothering him for the past 3 weeks. For now, we don’t even know what is going on until his test results come back. That didn’t stop us from tapping. I immediately got him a Tappy. Yes, he still taps at home using his Tappy.

We began with the fact that he had been feeling pain, that something was bothering him. When I asked him to check if he could identify what he said no. I even asked if anything had happened at home or school that had bothered him in the last month. He couldn’t think of anything. This is what happens at times. One doesn’t see or recognize what has happened that has an emotional affect.

I felt I needed to ask about his mom and his siblings. He told me there is a new baby just born last month. He has a new sister. This is a major change. We tapped about the changes that arrived in the house with the coming of his little sister.

Even tho I have a new baby sister, I’m a great young man.
Even tho she is going to get so much attention that I won’t get much anymore, I’m a great guy.
Even tho she is going to take up so much of my mom’s time that there won’t be much for me anymore, I don’t have to get sick again. I can stay healthy.

I don’t have to be worried or bothered by the changes.
It is time for me to be a young man not the baby anymore.
I had the position of being the baby of the family for 14 years.
Now that position changed to 3rd child.
It is quite a change.
I’m still special just because I’m me.

Today we took a look at some of the emotional issues going on at home that could have an affect on his health. A new baby is a big shift for a sensitive young man especially after so many years of being the baby of the family to now have to change that role. Now we can continue to look if on some level over the months of the pregnancy he had already felt pushed aside or was feeling he wouldn’t get the attention he had always gotten as the baby of the family.

When we have the diagnosis then we can use that information to look deeper into the root causes of what has transpired.

For now, he is content to feel better, to tap again, to tap with me again so that he can get better.

Rodolfo

Today I had to laugh. Claire was in making “masks” with the kids and this Panda Bear mask was put on Tappy. I love it.

Tappy in Disguise

Jesus came limping up the stairs to enter the children’s cancer area. I was surprised to see him struggling so much to walk since I hadn’t seen him in a few months. He was very happy to see me and do some tapping together. Tapping has been a great help to him so we decided to see what would we could do for the pain he was feeling in his leg.

We tapped on the physical pain that he was told comes from the latest medications that he is taking. When I asked how much pain, he said a 9.

Even tho I have this pain caused by a medication that is being used to help me get better, I love myself.
Even tho I believe this is a bad medication because it is causing me pain and I don’t want to feel pain, I’m a wonderful young man.
Even tho this medication is causing me pain, I don’t have to suffer to get better, I’m a great young man.

I feel so much pain. It hurts to walk. It hurts. I can hardly walk cuz of the pain.
I talk to this medication and tell it to stop harming me. I don’t have to suffer to heal. I don’t have to have medications harm me. I tell my body that it doesn’t have to have pain just cuz the doctor’s say this medication can cause pain. I choose to let my body be ok no matter what. I ask my body to release any pain caused by the medication.

The pain dropped to a 4. I asked if what he felt was still all pain. He said no, more that it bothers him. I asked, “What is bothering you? Are you afraid that when they check your test results that you may have another tumor?” He said yes especially because if these results come out well then he will go into “observation” instead of regular treatments. He’ll be essentially done with his chemotherapy. He said his Mom wouldn’t have to worry if he were better.

Even tho I’m afraid that my results won’t come out well, I’m a great young man.
Even tho I’m afraid that I might not be ok and have to have more chemotherapy, I love myself.
Even tho I feel bothered by all of this, I don’t have to be. I am ok.

I am healthy. I can be healthy. No I can’t. (He said he can and he doesn’t doubt it now). I can. I don’t doubt that I’m healthy. I know I am. I choose to stay healthy until I’m an old man.

The rest of the pain dropped away. His eyes were shining. He could stand completely on his right foot, which he couldn’t do earlier. He looked so relieved.

We found that his underlying emotional reason for feeling the pain was his fear that he would get another tumor and not be done with his 2 years of treatment.

He will continue to tap on being well and staying well until he is an old man. What a gift to receive!

Deborah & Jesus

Belem came into the hospital for a shot today but is all happy and content. She feels good because “Life is Sweet” now that she is staying at home again. Remember she was sad before because she wanted to go home and couldn’t because of her treatments.

We talked about her tapping experience at home. This is what I found out.
– She is tapping every day using her TappyBear. Basically she talks to him about all that has transpired during the day while she taps. She says it makes her feel very calm and happy.
– She is eating well and taking care of herself. Her blood sugar levels have stabilized.
– She knows it is important to have a positive attitude.
– She taught her siblings how to use EFT with TappyBear. Her 18 year old brother was skeptical, but she found him tapping on Tappy one afternoon when he was feeling sad.
– She shared how to tap on yourself and with Tappy with her girlfriends. They love tapping. Now they too are tapping away.

Deep down she now believes that “life is sweet”. When you see her you feel her sweetness.

Belem is a delightful young lady recently diagnosed with leukemia. After 3 weeks in the hospital all she wanted to do was go home, be with her family and eat her mother’s home cooked meals especially her tortillas.

She was told that her blood sugar was up possibly at diabetic levels. This made her even sadder as her mother is diabetic. She felt she would be letting her mother down if she too were diabetic. Yet, she was hungry, losing weight and missing her home and family.

We tapped:
Even tho I’m sad and just want to go home, I’m a great young lady.
Even tho I’m so tired of the hospital and want to go home, I’m a wonderful girl.
Even tho I miss my mom very much, I am a good girl.

It’s ok to give up my mom’s wonderful tortillas for a few days so I can get my blood sugar back to normal.
I don’t want my mom to be disappointed in me.
I feel that if I have diabetes too I’ll disappoint her.
I don’t want to do that.
I love my mom.
Being in the hospital is the best place to make sure my blood sugar goes back to normal.
I want to get better sooner.
I choose to be ok here in the hospital for a few more days.

She calmed down.

I asked her what wasn’t sweet in her life. She doesn’t like how her mother is sad sometimes. I asked if she thought there was something in her mother’s life that wasn’t sweet either. I was making a correlation between diabetes (too much sugar in blood) and the need to make life sweeter than it was (due to lack of sweetness). We discovered some old patterns that her mother had learned that made her sad and feel life isn’t sweet or the life is hard.

We tapped:
Even tho my mom is sad and feels life isn’t always sweet, I’m a great young lady.
Even tho I sometimes feel like life isn’t sweet like when I have to stay in the hospital and I want to go home, I love myself.
Even tho my life isn’t always sweet, I’m a sweet young lady.

Life isn’t always sweet.
Sometimes life is hard.
I can make choices about how I feel.
I can feel like life is bitter and hard or I can choose to find the sweetness in it.
I can be happy. I can choose to be happy even while I’m in the hospital.
I can choose to look for the sweet things in life and enjoy them.
I can even talk to my body and let it know that I want to focus on the sweet things so that it doesn’t have to make too much sugar in my blood.
I can be happy wherever I am.
That is my gift to myself and my family – to break the old pattern that life is not sweet.
I can make life sweet with my attitude.

She perked up and gave me an incredible look. She said she can be happy all the time like me. I told her that I’m not always happy but that anytime something comes up I choose to look at it and figure out what to do to let myself feel better. Then I became happy again. She decided she’d like to give the gift of being happy to herself and her family.

A few days later Till Schilling and I arrived in the hospital with the TappyBears donated to the Oaxaca Project. I gave one to Belem. It warmed my heart to do so. When I gave her Tappy I said he is yours and he will be a reminder to you that every day can be sweet. She flashed me the biggest smile.

Deborah and Belem

Belem

Paulina could use some help from us. After a series of radiation treatments she is so weak that she barely stays awake and has lost all interest in eating.

If you feel inspired to do surrogate EFT for her or send her blessings, it would be greatly appreciated.

Paulina

Paolo’s Relapse and Sadness
One of the difficult things for me is when a child has a relapse, especially one of my favorites. Paolo is one of my favorites. He is usually charming, bright, outspoken, dynamic and amazing. To see him so sad, so low is difficult.

Till watched me work with Paolo and was quite moved by the shift in Paolo from sad to at peace. In this photo even I can see how much I adore him and want to see him well. I do what I do without thinking about it so seeing this photo helped me see how others see me.

Paolo and Deborah

In the following days he was again sad. Again we tapped to release the sadness, but I could see that he didn’t want to release it. It was a matter of finding out why. I didn’t have to look far to find out.

His mother was with him. I could see she was sad too. I tapped with her about her sadness, the sadness that Paolo is back in the hospital and how that affects her. In addition, she has a 6 month old that she isn’t allowed to bring into the hospital. That creates a terrible conflict of how to love both children and take care of them both.

She was sad, overwhelmed and felt she couldn’t ask for support, even though she desperately needed it. We tapped to remove that sadness in of her mind. Interesting thing is that the last time I tapped with Paolo he had a headache, coincidence? We continued to tap to remove this sadness and to feel it was all right to ask for help. Not necessarily directly ask for help but that the help needed comes. I stated that I was here to help Paolo and her release the emotional stress they were feeling as a simple proof that what you need shows up. She smiled. By the time we finished tapping you could literally see her more relaxed and so was Paolo.

The next time I tapped with Paolo he wasn’t so sad. I asked if it helps when your mom doesn’t feel so sad. He said yes.

Family Effect
Here is an example of the family connection involved in helping children with cancer. The emotions of their families affect them just as their emotions affect their families. Also my emotions as a volunteer and EFT practitioner have an affect on the children.

The bottom line is the emotions we feel can affect others positively or negatively. The benefit of being conscious of this is that one can choose to feel good knowing it can have a beneficial effect on those around us. Pay attention to your emotions and how they are affecting those around you.

My desire is that we all choose happier emotions so that we feel at peace and capable of loving so that we create a beneficial effect.

Surrogate Tapping
I would like to propose that those of you who like to surrogate tap, tap for Paolo. Paolo and I would greatly appreciate any tapping you could do for him to release his sadness about being ill again. He is totally in agreed with me asking those inspired to do so. We thank you in advance.

Oye tu. Ven aca!
Hey you. Come here!

This phrase explains perfectly the incredible power of Joaquin, a young man just under 3 years of age. He would point, smile, hand you something and you would literally do whatever he wished without him saying a word. He is an amazing young man.

Joaquin