Educational Problem Solving

Abstract

This article introduces the educational solutions module of the world's most recent personal and professional problem solving site, describing competitive offerings, the customer profile, problem-oriented solutions, target markets, product offerings, and usability features. It concludes that the module is a major contribution to the information superhighway.

Introduction

The aim of this article is to introduce to the world the educational solutions module of the world's most recent personal and professional problem solving site. The article is addressed to those readers who may have an educational problem bogging them and who may therefore be looking for a way out of their predicament. The reader may be a parent, child, or student.

It is a common fact of life that we all have problems and that we are often frustrated or we tend to lash out because of our inability to find accessible and reliable information about our problems. This specialist site fills this need - as our pragmatic friend for solving our educational problems.

To be of the greatest use to people a problem solving site must combine pragmatic discussions of their personal or professional problem with merchant products that provide more detailed information. Typically, the web site will provide free information in the form of news, articles, and advice, which direct the visitor on what to do to solve her problems. Complementing this, the web site will also provide merchant products which discuss in detail how the visitor can go about resolving her problem. This means that the most effective, visitor-oriented problem-solving site will be an information-packed commercial site - and so is the world's most recent personal and professional problem solving site and its specialist sites.

The approach that we have adopted below is to describe competitive offerings, the customer profile, problem-oriented solutions, target markets, product offerings, and usability features.

Competitive Offerings

The following are the top educational sites on the Internet, along with their offerings.

US Department of Education. It defines the US education policy and provides information on financial aid, educational research and statistics, grants and contracts, and teaching and learning resources.

Educational Testing Service. It provides a range of test resources.

FunBrain.com. It provides educational games for K-8 kids.

PrimaryGames.com. It provides fun learning tools and games for kids.

GEM. It provides educational resources such as lesson plans and other teaching and learning resources.

Education World. It provides advice on lesson plans, professional development, and technology integration.

NASA Education Enterprise. It provides educational materials and information relating to space exploration.

Spartacus Educational. It is a British online encyclopedia that focuses on historical topics.

Department for Education and Skills. It is a UK government department site that offers information and advice on various educational and skills topics.

Times Educational Supplement. It offers teaching news, teaching & educational resources, and active forums to help UK teachers.
All these sites are useful in the domains that they cover. Their main limitations are as follows:

1. They tend to cover only a very narrow segment of the educational market.
2. They do not take as their starting point the daily educational needs of the typical family.
3. They lack a problem focus; i.e., they do not formulate the typical learning and educational problems that pupils, students, and parents face on a daily basis.
4. As a result of the preceding point, the solutions offered are not as incisive (i.e. as problem-centred) as they could be.
5. They do not offer merchant products that deepen the visitor's understanding of her problem and of the consequent solutions.

The educational solutions module of the world's most recent personal and professional problem solving site addresses these problems by targeting a multiplicity of market segments, adopting a customer profile that fits the typical education-pursuing family, considering the specific needs or problems that this family may face, offering incisive (problem-centred) solutions to the various problems, and offering a range of merchant products that deepen the visitor's appreciation of her problems and of the solutions that are applicable to them.

Customer Profile

The customer profile or target visitor characteristics of the educational solutions module is the same as for all specialist sites of the world's most recent personal and professional problem solving site. The site has been designed to meet the needs of visitors who have an educational problem bogging them. It is designed for both males and females, even though it is often convenient to refer to just one sex when writing.

This visitor uses search engines to research information about her personal or professional problem, with the intention of finding solutions to it. The visitor is serious about solving her problem and is therefore willing to buy products that help her to achieve her mission, provided that she can find reliable and honest information about relevant products so that she can make an informed decision about which ones to acquire. This information will help her to apply her finances economically, and hence avoid wasting money.

The visitor will want a money-back guarantee so that if a product does not live up to expectations or if she were misled into buying a product she can get a refund. Such a guarantee absolves her of purchase risks.

The visitor is intelligent (without necessarily being a genius), educated (without necessarily being a PhD), computer literate (without necessarily being a computer guru), and money-minded (without necessarily being a freebie hunter or an unemployed person). This of course does not mean that freebie hunters or unemployed persons cannot gain a thing from the site. To the contrary, there is a great deal of free information on the site. Just that it is hard to see how anyone can gain the full benefits of the site without buying products.

The visitor wants high quality information products (usually in digital form) and wants to pay the cheapest price for these (without paying so much emphasis on price that she compromises quality). The visitor also wants free bonus offers that are attached to the purchased goods.

The visitor is self-reliant and can cope on her own by reading, digesting, and applying advice about her problem until she solves it or discovers that she needs help from a professional, at which point her acquired knowledge will help her to reduce her consulting fees. As a result of the knowledge gained, the visitor will be able to assess consultants in order to avoid incompetent or fraudulent ones.

Problem-Centred Solutions

Our free solutions are organised in the form of pragmatic articles that are written by top experts. Each article addresses a specific daily problem, but does not go into detail. It explains the problem and tells the visitor what she must do to solve her problem. However, it does not tell the visitor how she must solve it - this is too much for an article. To find out about the how, the visitor must buy a product (usually an e-book or e-book set) that goes into greater depth.

The set of educational articles that we have chosen, to provide initial solution to a visitor's problem are as follows:

Signs of a Gifted Child - Informs parents on how to identify whether or not their children are gifted.

Essential Parenting Lessons for Enriching Your Child's Education - Teaches parents how to enhance their child's education.

Using Positive Affirmations to Be a Better Student - Teaches students how to use positive affirmations to improve their performance.

They Are Just Afraid of Writing - Teaches writing skills to students

How Can Parents Encourage Their Children to Read? - Shows parents how they can improve their children's reading skills.

Test Preparation Tutoring - Discusses the topic of tutoring students to prepare for tests or exams.

Test Taking Strategies - Discusses various strategies for taking and passing tests or exams

Playing and Winning the Scholarship Game - Describes how to win scholarships.

How to Get a Scholarship to a UK University - Describes how to win scholarships to a UK university.

Saving Money for College - Instructs students on how they can save money in preparation for college.

Student Loans: When Your Educational Dreams Can't Compete with the Cost - Explains to students the benefits of a student loan.

Education Loans Can Fund a Higher Degree to Boost Your Career - Also explains to students the benefits of a student loan.

The Secret to US Department of Education Loans - Teaches students how to get a US DoE loan to finance their higher education.

Student Loan Consolidation - Save Money, Pay Less, Spend More - Explains to graduates how to make use of loan consolidation to reduce their student loan repayments.

Higher Education: Finding the Right College for You - Explains to students how to find the right college or university for their higher education studies.

Mobile Learning - An Alternative Worth Considering - Explains the concept of mobile learning and its place in education.

Online Degrees - Is Online Education Right for You? - Analyses the merits of online learning as compared to traditional learning.

An Online College Education Overview - Reviews the whole concept of online learning.

Finding the Right Quotation for Your Paper or Speech Online - Shows writers and speakers how to find the right quotation to use in their writings or speeches.

Collaboration: An Important Leadership Development Skill - Explores the useful concept of collaboration and its role in leadership development.

At the end of each article is a list of merchant products that supplement the article's content. A link is also included for accessing the educational product catalogue.

Target Markets and Product Offerings

Now let us turn to the target markets and their associated product offerings. We have positioned the segments to address the various needs of a visitor over a period of time, and at any given time a customer may belong to one or more of the market segments. There are three general classes of products offered: ClickBank products, Google products, and eBay products. Google and eBay products are presented on each page of the site. ClickBank products are grouped into product categories that match the target markets. These categories and their markets are as follows.

Children and Parenting. This consists of visitors who want parenting solutions for improving their children's upbringing. Their needs are met through the Children and Parenting section of the educational product catalogue.

Difficult Admissions. This consists of visitors who want to learn how to get admission into top universities. Their needs are met through the Difficult Admissions section of the educational product catalogue.

Esoteric Needs. This consists of visitors with unusual needs. Their needs are met through the Esoteric Needs section of the educational product catalogue.

Financial Aid. This consists of visitors looking for scholarships, grants, or loans. Their needs are met through the Financial Aid section of the educational product catalogue.

Leadership Skills. This consists of visitors looking to develop their leadership skills. Their needs are met through the Leadership Skills section of the educational product catalogue.

Learning. This consists of visitors who want to improve their learning ability. Their needs are met through the Learning section of the educational product catalogue.

Mental Speed. This consists of visitors who want to explode their mental speed. Their needs are met through the Mental Speed section of the educational product catalogue.

Positive Affirmations. This consists of visitors who want to transform their negative dispositions into a positive mindset in order to improve their performance. Their needs are met through the Positive Affirmations section of the educational product catalogue.

Speaking. This consists of visitors looking to improve their speaking skills. Their needs are met through the Speaking section of the educational product catalogue.

Tests and Exams. This consists of visitors looking to master exam technique. Their needs are met through the Tests and Exams section of the educational product catalogue.

Writing. This consists of visitors looking to improve their writing skills. Their needs are met through the Writing section of the educational product catalogue.

Usability Considerations

Usability has been enhanced to make it easy for the visitor to find solutions to her problem, by following these steps:

1. The first thing the visitor sees are a set of articles whose titles represent the specific problem area they address. The articles are accessed from the Educational Problem Solving menu of the navigation bar to the left of the screen or from the Educational Problem Solving main page. By scanning these articles the visitor can identify whether or not her problem is covered. If not the visitor can check the educational product catalogue through the Product Catalogues menu of the same navigation bar, to see whether a product exists that answers her query. If she finds nothing she knows that her problem is not addressed. She can proceed to the Related Sites pages, which are accessible from the left navigation bar.

2. If the visitor finds an article that addresses her problem then she can begin to explore that; at the end of the article she will find products that discuss her problem more deeply. She can also access the educational product catalogue through an article page.

Conclusion

This article has introduced the educational solutions module of the world's most recent personal and professional problem solving site. The article has examined competitive offerings, the target customer profile, problem-oriented solutions, target markets, product offerings, and usability considerations. It concludes that the module is a major contribution to the information superhighway.

A A Agbormbai is the editor and webmaster of Personal and Professional Problem Solving - a web site that fills a vacuum on the Web. He has a PhD from Imperial College London and enjoys an interdisciplinary upbringing having worked or studied in aerospace engineering, information systems development, and management. The educational solutions module is one of many specialist sites of Personal and Professional Problem Solving.

Problem Solving and Decision Making Between Black and Yellow

There is a creative process called "Thinking Hats" that works well for all types of groups who need to do problem solving or make decisions by insuring all perspectives of the problem or decision is looked at. The hats process uses colors to indicate what perspective the group should be using at a particular time during a meeting. For example, the black and yellow hats allow the group to look at an idea from both the positive and negative sides rather than the traditional team-teaching of trying being optimistic about all ideas presented.

Developing a Pro/Con or +/- list for a selected idea or group of like ideas is an example of using black and yellow hat thinking. The difference in this and traditional Pro/Con lists is that with hats, the group must focus only on Cons or Pros for a limited time rather than going back and forth in brainstorming the positive and negatives of each possible solution.

Black = Negative

Make sure the group does not jump into blank hat until after any brainstorming is complete and everyone agrees to look at the negative side of ideas. Using black hat too early in the problem solving process may result in individual defensiveness and fewer out-of-the-box ideas to pursue. However the black had is essential to decision making because it allows the group to review any bad points related to working a particular idea so that the most feasible and effective solution can be found. During this time the group may also want to review any cost data to determine if an excessive expenditure may be required. Pursuing the negative side of a situation allows the group to create a change management plan for all possible contingencies

Yellow = Positive

During problem solving or decision making, it is often easy for one or more people in the group to be negative towards change ideas. The yellow hat forces everyone to be optimistic and try to find the positive side of each solution for consideration. Benefits and potential savings are presented and discussed at this time in the meeting. Dollar savings and estimated time period to see greatest benefit might be listed as well. Understanding the primary benefits will make it easier to develop communications that explain the reason for a selected change in process, product, or responsibility in order to make it more acceptable to everyone concerned.

Use the black and yellow colored hats to review ideas from both positive and negative perspectives. Allow a little more time to discuss the yellow benefits but be sure to allow adequate time for discussing disadvantages in black. This can help lead the group to make a better, more informed decision. When using these hats, remember that "Thinking Hats" is a creative process for problem solving and/or decision making for groups to use at a specific time during a meeting. The hats aid the group by providing a good process that leaves little doubt in decisions made but these two hats alone will not insure success. The group must remain open to using additional hats in meetings and utilizing various methods for ideas generation, problem solving, and decision making as needed.

NOTE: Author and consultant, Edward de Bono elaborates on the concept of using Six Thinking Hats in his book with that title. To find more details on this topic, read his book. To get a general idea of what the other hat colors do for decision making in meetings, search for on-line "problem solving and decision making" articles for red, white, 

Problem Solving Strategies

What could you use a few good problem solving strategies for? New ideas for your business, perhaps. New ways to deal with your children. To come up with different approaches to building things, writing stories, or finding a job. Whatever the purpose, here are a couple powerful problem solving strategies.

Use Your Unconscious Mind

Use your unconscious mind to do your problem solving. Start by outlining a problem in your mind before going to sleep. Then tell your brain to go to work. Albert Einstein had good luck with this technique, sometimes getting his "ah-ha" insights while shaving the next morning.

Instruct your mind to keep working on the problem while you do other things. There is more than we know going on inside our heads. If you first work on a problem, then move on to other things while waiting for and expecting a solution, an answer may come to you when you least expect it.

You can also try working on problems when you are in a drowsy state. This is usually an "Alpha" state, and can result in more creative solutions. This is one of the best problem solving strategies for artistic work.

A Systematic Problem Solving Strategy

Train yourself to solve problems with one or more techniques. Just use a technique for several weeks, and it should become a habit. Here are a few to try:

1. Assumption-challenging. If you are assuming you need a better or higher-paying job, ask "do I really need a better job?" You could get a raise, or somehow make the job you have better. Starting a business on the side might be an option too. Never let your assumptions limit the possible solutions.

2. Solve the parts. To buy a house is a big move that is really a bunch of small steps, which is true of many problems. Address the components of a problem individually, and it may not seem so overwhelming. It is easier to motivate yourself in this way.

3. Ask other people. Whether or not they have good ideas, this helps you be sure you're not overlooking anything obvious.

4. Write the problem down. Find another way to express the problem and write that down. Keep writing down solutions and ideas that come to mind. Later you can pick the diamonds out of the dirt.

Emotional Freedom Technique Abundance - Tapping

This morning I got an EFT abundance tapping question in an email from a reader I'll call "Marney." Marney wrote, "Other people around me have launched the same type of business and they have succeeded.

I've got the same talent as them so why am I not achieving success and abundance?"

I thought that was a terrific question, and one that needed to be shared with all of you. Here's some of what I answered and what I've been thinking about since her email. Increasing your business success requires three things...

One: Handle the business aspects like a pro.

Two: Clear your blocks.

Three: Attract what you want.

Now, the first step of doing your business like a pro is best answered by a business expert, or someone in your field of work. I won't cover it here, because that's not my expertise, but it is essential - and your first step.

Next is to clear up anything that could be blocking your success. Blocks come in a few different categories. Clearing Your Limiting Belief Blocks Your blocks could be limiting beliefs about your worthiness or skill. Beliefs like,

I'm not worthy of financial success.

Deep down, there is something wrong with me.

I'm not good enough to be successful.

I'll never be successful.

It could be critical beliefs you have about wealthy, successful people. You could be holding beliefs like... Rich people are greedy.

Wealthy people are stuck-up. They think they're better than everyone else.

Successful people aren't spiritual. They don't share my values.

You may have limiting beliefs about your relationship with money. I'm bad at handling money.

I can't hold onto money.

I'm no good at budgeting.

I'm just not good at financial stuff.

All of those are simply beliefs. And beliefs are neither true or false. They are just beliefs. And that's good!

It means they can be changed. What is necessary is to identify any of your beliefs that are getting in your way, then use EFT abundance tapping to clear them.

Here is a tapping script to heal you clear the belief that you're not worthy of financial or business success.

EFT Abundance Tapping

Set-Up Even though I'm not worthy of success, I deeply and completely love and accept myself anyway.

Even though I just don't feel worthy of being successful, I accept myself and all my feelings.

Even though I don't know how I got this belief, I don't feel worthy of business success, and I want to accept myself just the way I am.

Dumping - Round One Eyebrow: I don't know why, but I don't feel worthy of success.

Side of Eye: It's true. I'm not worthy.

Under Eye: I'm not worthy.

Under Nose: I bet I picked this up from my family, when I was a little kid.

Chin: For whatever reason, I am not worthy of living a successful life.

Collarbone: So I'll never be successful.

Under Arm: I should probably just quit wasting my time.

Top of Head: I'll never be worthy of success.

Tap this dumping, whining, complaining, ranting language one or more rounds.

As always, with emotional tapping, if a memory comes up, or you get some insight into the root cause of the issue you're tapping on, take a little side-trip and tap on the memory or insight. Then return to where you were.

Dreaming - Round Two Eyebrow: I'm beginning to see that believing I'm not worthy of success is just a belief. And beliefs can be changed.

Side of Eye: What if I could let go, even a little, of believing I'm not worthy of success?

Under Eye: What if I could remember times in my life when I was successful - and I felt worthy of that success?

Under Nose: Wouldn't it be nice if I could see myself as worthy of a little more success?

Chin: What if I could believe that everyone is worthy of more success - even me?

Collarbone: I'd like to know I'm capable of success.

Under Arm: Wouldn't it be great if I could know that I am worthy of business success?

Top of Head: I wonder what I'd picture if I saw myself as worthy of financial success?

Tap on the Dreaming round, and anything that came up for you, until you feel ready for the positive Deciding.

Deciding - Round Three

Eyebrow: I have decided that I am worthy of success.

Side of Eye: I've decided that I'm just as worthy as anyone of success.

Under Eye: I choose to see myself as successful already.

Under Nose: I choose to let go of any limiting beliefs that say I'm not worthy of financial success.

Chin: I have decided I am worthy.

Collarbone: I choose to know that I am worthy of more success.

Under Arm: It feels so good to know I'm worthy of all kinds of success.

Top of Head: I love knowing I'm worthy.

Emotional Freedom Technique

(EFT) Emotional Freedom Technique is an alternative healing method invented by Gary Craig in the 1990s. Based on the teachings of his one time mentor Roger Callahan, it has been hailed as miraculous by many holistic healers and doctors, equally disparaged by critics who call it pseudo science, and in spite of, or perhaps because of the controversy is wildly popular. It is available for purchase on DVD on the internet, is taught in workshops in conjunction with the DVD and has been glowingly endorsed by celebrities such as Deepak Chopra. The basic theory of EFT is simple, heal the mind and good health will follow. EFT is The Power of Positive Thinking taken to a whole new post modernist level.

Started by Gary Craig in the nineteen nineties as a revision of Roger Callahan's (TFT) Thought Field Therapy, EFT is based on the belief that disturbances in the body's energy field cause negative emotions and that by utilizing its techniques ailments ranging from cancer to the common cold can be cured. In its original incarnation as TFT it utilized meridians, i.e. tapping points on the body. The ailing person was supposed to think of a negative emotion while tapping in a specific sequence on a specified series of points or meridians (which correspond to the meridians used in Chinese medicine) thus restoring balance to the body's energy field. Gary Craig discovered that the sequence of tapping points was irrelevant so he simplified Callahan's procedure while maintaining its core belief in meridians and EFT was born.

EFT theory states that negative emotions are created in the following sequence: in response to a negative experience negative emotions are born, thereby leading to negative programming in the body which leads to a disruption in the body's energy field. EFT proponents believe tackling the negative experience alone is not enough to restore health. They believe that the energy imbalance must be remedied along with curing the negative emotions in order to remove the negative responses i.e. illness, phobia, etc

Studies have been conducted on the efficacy of EFT with varied and ultimately inconclusive results. One study focused on four groups of people who reported phobias. One group received regular EFT, another received EFT with false tapping points, a third group tapped on a doll and a fourth group received nothing. The three tapping groups did better than the fourth group, but there were no significant differences between the three tapping groups. This would seem to indicate that the EFT theory of the body's energy meridian system is false. However, a second study involving the use of a psychological test called the SA-45 indicated otherwise. Participants in an EFT workshop were given the test before and immediately after the workshop, and one and six months later. All participants showed significant decreases of pre and post workshop stress.

Gary Craig himself has said placebo controlled studies of EFT are unreliable if not impossible because energy meridians are influenced and manipulated by tapping anywhere on the body. Thus EFT is really unable to be tested through scientific means and this has caused its opponents to label it as pseudo science. Its reliance on anecdotal evidence and aggressive promotion on the internet have also damaged its plausibility. It has been speculated in an article of the Guardian that perhaps the act of rhythmically tapping the body while in distress simply serves as a distraction from the ailment, making it seem as if EFT is effective.

Whether or not EFT can cure an individual of phobias or other non life threatening illness is open to speculation, and it seems to be relatively harmless in that regard. It is in its claims of being able to cure cancer and other potentially terminal illness that it runs into trouble. Its claims are specious at best and there is simply no medical evidence that EFT is effective. Any proof that has been presented is purely anecdotal. For someone who is desperately ill and looking for a cure, it is irresponsible and misleading to claim EFT can cure them, particularly if that person is going to forgo proven conventional treatment in favor of EFT. That is not to say that EFT lacks all value, just that its efficacy has not been proven, and further studies are required before it is accepted or dismissed entirely.

The connection between the mind and body has been a subject of fascination for decades, and there is no doubt that the mind plays a vital part in the well being of the body. What is unclear is how effective EFT is in tapping into the connection between the two. Its popularity and vague results when put to the test make it difficult to determine hype from reality, and further scrutiny is necessary before it can be accepted or rejected. We are only in the beginning phases of learning just how powerful the mind/body connection is, and it would be irresponsible to completely dismiss the power of alternative therapies including EFT, and equally irresponsible to accept them without proper and in depth study.

Modern Energy Therapies - Emotional Freedom Technique

Thought is one of the biggest components of disease - Thought is also energy...

Strangely enough, our whole body system and the way it works is fundamentally based on energy which is the most fundamental and essential ground of our being. EFT therapy is based on energy rebalancing, a fundamental approach of all energy medicine. All of our biological processes have a living, pulsating, vibrant, energetic foundation and are affected by the thoughts that we think and beliefs we hold. We can now even measure our own energy fields with modern scientific instruments these days which validates its existence.

In fact the existence of the ancient acupuncture energy meridians, once mapped out by Chinese physicians thousands of years ago has now been verified by such testing. This is exciting, Why? because it gives us the opportunity of addressing all dis-ease, illness, pain and emotional disturbances, whether thought-induced or as a result of physical injury, using energy methods, such as eft tapping therapy, that are practical, easy, quick and essentially non-invasive.

Energy Medicine is Here to Stay

Energy medicine is truly the medicine of the future and signs of its emergence as a powerful cure-all have already begun. Emotional freedom tapping and other energy therapies can be used to gain optimal health and well-being, by getting to the root of any problem, rather than just focusing on the traditional approach of ongoing symptom management. It offers the promise of really empowering each and every one of us with effective self-help methods for our own self-care with tools and techniques that can be carried out in the comfort of our own homes.

It is a powerful tool for integrating all aspects of ourselves, our minds, bodies and spirit.

We now have at our disposal, with EFT techniques, Reiki, Acupuncture, Reflexology, the Emotion Code work and other newly emerging energy modalities, the means to clear away all of the energy blockages that until now have been preventing us from radiating out and sharing our true and wonderful inner light with the world. And the beauty of this new way of healing is that, until it comes into its own amongst medical circles, it can still be safely used alongside conventional treatments without any dangerous side effects whatsoever.

It heralds a new way of taking charge of your health

Since everything in the universe is fundamentally made of energy, change our energy vibrations and we literally change our world, both inside and out. I believe there will come a time in the not too distant future when drugs and surgery will end up being only a last resort and when working with a patient or client energy field, to release trapped energies will be the first line of treatment for any diagnosed illness. Fitness will be much more about doing things to keep our energies vibrating well and from becoming blocked so that the energy channels are flowing nicely in tune with optimal health and a positive outlook.

You can learn to use energy medicine with practical hands-on techniques to clear and enhance the energies in your body, support your natural ability to heal, release stress and raise your feeling good vibrations. EFT tapping is one of the most popular of the energy therapies around today. It is quick to learn, easy and quick to apply and is considered to be about 80-99 per cent effective, mainly depending upon the skill of the practitioner or the one doing it. It is something you can learn to do by yourself and apply at home whenever the need arises.

Emotional Freedom Technique for Insomnia

Late nights, early mornings-you thought that all that was for when you were younger! Surely by now you should be allowed to sleep in until at least noon, wake up refreshed and ready to start your day, enjoying life. Instead, you find yourself unable to fall asleep until early morning, and waking up just a few hours after dozing off. Quality sleep that leaves you refreshed in the morning-forget it. Instead you are drinking eight cups of coffee just to keep your eyes open, and destroying your health in the process. There must be a cure for this madness called insomnia.

Indeed there is a cure. There are many "cures", in fact, but one that does not involve drugs or even natural supplements, one that is completely free and yet 100% effective is known as EFT Tapping Therapy. Emotional Freedom Techniques Tapping Therapy is used by doctors world wide to relieve physical issues, especially those caused by underlying emotional issues, insomnia being one of them.

EFT uses a technique that is similar to acupuncture, but with tapping instead of needles. Very simply, you tap along certain Meridian points that will "unbind" emotional issues in your life and leave you free. This technique sometimes involves saying certain positive affirmations along with the tapping.

Now, if this seems just a little too "weird" for you, then that is fine, and completely understandable. Emotional Freedom Technique Tapping Therapy is a little different that what most people are used to, but at the same time, the results cannot be denied.

One woman reports suffering from insomnia for years before trying EFT before bed. Within fifteen minutes, she was asleep that night. While most people will not have such instantaneous results, they are definitely possible, and even if it takes a few nights of doing EFT Tapping Therapy on yourself, you are almost guaranteed to have restful sleep.

How do you do it? Lightly tap various points on your face and body, including your eyebrows, chest, and chin, while repeating a certain phrase, such as "Though I am nervous about not sleeping tonight, I choose to relax and trust that I will get the sleep I need." Always follow a negative statement with a positive statement. As mentioned before, you may not have blissful sleep the first night, but doing EFT with the positive affirmations will relieve your stress and leave you ready for sleep.

Because stress is such a major part of not being able to sleep, you may need to begin by tapping for stress, not for insomnia. "Even though I feel stressed, I..." and follow it up with a positive statement. You can even be more specific to get better results: "Even though I am worried about losing my job, I..." Using this technique to treat stress, and then using different words to treat insomnia, all the while tapping, will put you ahead when trying to sleep.

Emotional Freedom Technique Tapping Therapy is not the only way to help with insomnia, though. You may also want to journal before bed, and write everything you are thinking, so that you can go to bed with a clear mind. Drinking water before bed also might help with insomnia, as will eating a light carbohydrate snack, such as crackers.