I have had good results. For me, the main problem has been getting to the root of the problem and getting the phrases right. For example, if I were having an issue with heights, I might automaticaly say that "Even though I am afraid of heights," but I might actually be afraid of falling from heights.
I recommend trying variations of the phrases. You could be afraid of heights, or afraid of falling.
You could feel that your "loud" personality is safe for you- are you sure that you really want to change it, or do you just think you do?
Take any issue that you're working on, and look at it from a few vantage points:
1. How might this protect you?
Whatever your answer is, EFT that. Perhaps it might protect you by keeping people from getting close to you so that you don't get rejected. Maybe it protects you by keeping you focused on that problem instead of more "real" problems.
2. Is there another way of looking at it that you haven't considered?
Perhaps the very act of thinking that there is something wrong with your personality as it stands is what you need to let go of. Maybe the problem isn't that being loud is the problem, but more than feeling bad about it is the problem. Being "soft spoken" is a social indoctrination.
3. Can you think of any social mores that you are inadvertently trying to blend in with?
Big boys don't cry. Women shouldn't work outside the home if they have children. Adults must be strong. Patience is a virtue.
4. Is there any seemingly unrelated incident that you think of when you think of the issue?
Maybe when you get anxious, you remember the time that a girl friend called you and told you that she was moving. Now whenever you smell turnips cooking, you get anxious for no apparent reason- well, that smell has become linked for you to the loss of a friend.
5. Can you connect these incidents in a new way?
Perhaps when you were a kid, you got out of school once because you had a headache. Now when you have to face anything you don't like, you get a headache, but you go and do it anyway. So you don't connect the incident because that time, you did get out of school.
6. Can you find a reason why you wouldn't want to give up the problem?
Has it become so much a part of you that you don't know how you'd react? Are you fearful of what may happen- perhaps if you became wealthy, you'd never know if anyone loved you for YOU instead of your money. That type of thing.
7. Do you really believe it can be gotten rid of?
Do you believe that clinical depression can be cured in any way? Is it something you "just have to live with" and treat forever? EFT away these beliefs and try again.
8. Are you expecting every issue to be a "one minute wonder"?
Some things have many, many layers to them. Some things you have to go back to, time and time again, because your beliefs about them have had a long time to build up and branch out. Some things will go away right away, some things won't.
PS, keep a journal. Sometimes our thinking has changed and we don't even realize it.
