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One of my favorite guitar instrumentals is by an artist/composer known as Trevor Rabin and this instrumental is called Sludge. I always thought the name of the song was a little strange, however, as a psychotherapist dealing with clients who often feel stuck in what they are dealing with, the topic of sludge made me start to think of some things we all deal with in working out our personal issues.

In fact, I’ll go one step further to suggest that this article is not for people in the beginning of there healing journey. Rather, this article is for the person who has spent much time working on improving themselves and dealing with their heart issues only to feel like they have not moved much further than when they started there healing journey 1 year ago, 2 years ago, 5 years ago, etc….

I would like to suggest sometimes when we feel stuck in resolving the issues of our heart, it’s not that we are not dealing with our personal issues. No, instead what could be happening is that we actually have been dealing with hurts and wounds of the past and present and actually have been dealing with them in a healthy way. So then, what’s happening? Well, I believe it’s possible that you may be dealing with what I like to call “the sludge of your heart.”  Now if this was a written song sequel to the song I mentioned earlier, I think the lyrics might be something like the following:

OOOHHH Yah, You work so hard

Hard on your issues of life, yeah yeah

The problem is, you still feel stuck

Even though you cleared the junk in your heart.

OOOHHH Yah, Keep working hard

cause maybe today is the day

That in all your work to begin feeling un-stuck

It’s now time to deal with the sludge of your heart.

Okay, so maybe these made-up lyrics may not be the next hit song of the decade. However, hopefully you get the idea that often times there are some really deep issues that are like sludge stuck at the bottom of your heart and to get completely unstuck you have to give yourself the chance to scrape the final sticky ick that is left in your heart. Especially if you are dealing with PTSD Treatment Calgary. This means continuing on with your journey of healing by taking out a power washer and blasting that goo out of you (ok I better move on from the attempts at lyric writing).

Here are some super quick practical ways to begin power washing the sludge in your heart:

1. Keep your momentum going. If the method or technique you are working on is working then go the extra mile and complete the process fully and completely.
2. Not to contradict the 1^st point, however, it is okay to occasionally take a break from the work you are doing. It’s not going anywhere, just make sure you are talking with your therapist about needing to slow down a bit, come up with a plan to make sure you are going to be okay and then take a break and pre-plan your next session in advance so you are continuing your personal commitment to your recovery.
3. Look at increasing your personal safety network. It’s good for the soul to talk and hang out with a trusted friend or family member and be in a place of normalcy.
4. Not to sound to cliché (although I think I might have already done that with the above lyrics), we need to remember that we all fall down. If you have fallen down then catch your breath and then get up and take 2 steps forward to get back into your momentum of healing.

So, the next time your getting angry at your therapeutic progress or dealing with PTSD Counselling Calgary and wondering the reason you are not where you want to be, remember you might actually be closer than you think to finding healing and restoration in your life. It might just be that you are finally getting to the root issue of your issues and now beginning to deal with the sludge of your heart.