Clearing buried "guck" that we've controlled

There's the reasonable adult in all of us that we like to present to the world as rational, calm and in control of a situation. This person keeps their composure in handling the jibes that assail us from other people's comments. We like to think we're mature enough that their insults bounce off us.

But maybe if we look within there's a smouldering stick held by an angry child that wants to throw a hissy fit at that damned person except they think it's not okay. Other people might not like us if we show our true colours. They're used to us behaving politely and being in control of our petulant feelings so that they don't feel discomforted by that "imbalanced" individual. Because after don't we want others to just like us?

The adult side of us tries to steer a safe path through the emotional mess we feel within. With almost hoover-like action they suck up all that rubbish that we'd rather not have others seeing within us and dump it in the only place they know how - somewhere deep within. Author Louise L Hays calls this buried "guck" - so onomatopoeic, don't you think?

So then it's the aching knees, or the ulcerated stomach that gets to know about how annoyed we are at that idiot and we don't have to deal with it in our heads where it would be too intolerable. Is it really that helpful to us that we don't have to deal with it? Surely that broken bone that couldn't cope with the stress of that painful emotion we've buried is having to cope with the pain?

This is one possible scenario that happens for some people when they can't cope with the way an event or ongoing painful situation feels to them. Is it yours?

Then when we come across a clearing technique like Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) we know that event is something we can heal to reduce and ultimately resolve the root issue. But what if our anger and pain don't clear and just sits there like sediment, heavy and unmoving? What if the symptoms don't go away? It'd be tempting to say that EFT won't work for this issue.

Waterways typically have to be dredged on a regular basis to move away sediment that has gathered and that stop boats navigating through the water. Maybe we need to dredge the bottom of our emotional paths to start shifting impacted distress that we've buried for it not being suitable for public consumption?

Or if you enjoy cooking then you may have seen how the action of boiling a fatty liquid always seems to float to the surface bitter tasting solids. We skim this off as we don't wish to ruin our tasty dish. Likewise, with buried trapped emotions - applying heat and vigorous action in a safe environment can dislodge them to be carried to the top so that we can deftly slide them away from our bodies.

One of the best ways I've come across in dredging emotional sludge up to the surface is conversing with someone you trust and letting the stuff filter up. Use language that gives you the freedom to express exactly what you think of that person or situation - yes that includes swear words - and tap as you talk.

The difference between just doing the talking (aka counselling) and tapping along is that with the latter you skim off the solids, instead of letting them settle back to the bottom.

Often my clients say to me that they're good at talking with their friends about their bitter feelings but nothing seems to change. That's because they did nothing to clear their body of the pain. Tapping will have that great effect.

If you'd like a helping hand to churn the waters to bring up the sludge so that you can go on to clear it please tap on this month’s EFT Setups.

And if you've not got a friend you feel comfortabel talking to about this please contact me to set up an appointment where you can do that with my guidance and insight to get you free more quickly than you could imagine.

The Healthy in Mind viewpoint: Letting the child within speak out its rage in a safe place can help bring up old buried guck to skim it off. In turn our bodies can feel free again.

Article Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2009