22 Comments

I love this. I want more than anything for my emotions to flow freely. It’s some thing I massively struggle with.

Expand full comment

Karen, crying is definitely something that can be cultivated, and produces such a calming release. Setting aside time just to be with your emotions and sorrows allowing for them to wash over you, or watch a sad/emotional movie, or just keep reading this series of posts coming up, lol, you have the ability to create and release emotion. Golly, just the struggles that you share in your posts are worthy of a good cry, or many good cries. Fear and stress can be crippling, I know from experience, and my eyes are welling up just remembering. I'll share a few tears with and for you, Karen, until you claim your own. 💟

Expand full comment

<3 Thank you for this so much

Expand full comment

Anxiously waiting for the next installment! It does take years to come to terms with crying...so often in our pst, we women have been made to feel "less" because of our tears. So sad that is. So often I have had such wonderful experiences sharing tears with others...usually women, but a few times with men too. So cleansing... love you Sue

Expand full comment

Yes, the act of sharing tears definitely bonds people, I agree. Love you too, Lynette! 💟

Expand full comment

Thanks for this. I especially liked that your dad could be sensitive enough to well up. I raised my eldest boy (now 48) to be sensitive. If he cried when he fell and skinned his knee, I’d hug him, kiss the boo-boo then put a bandaid on it. To this day, he is not afraid to cry. My daughter though, I wanted her to be tougher, I’d give a hug, dry her tears and tell her she’d be ok, that she was strong and tough. OH she is empathic, and will cry over commercials, or seeing an injured animal, or if I start crying, then we’ll have a good cry together. I cry at the drop of a hat when someone is showing empathy, whether it’s in a movie, commercial, on the street, or especially if someone shows it to me, Its hard for me to just say thank you and move on. But I am learning.

I too look forward to the next installment.

Expand full comment

Thank you so much for sharing this, Gail. I cry at all those same things, and my children, a boy and a girl, are also criers :) Thanks for your support! 💟

Expand full comment

I would be up on the awards podium right there vying for the gold. I cry when my towels aren't folded straight. I cry at the sign of another crying. I look at the earthquake's devastation and bawl some more. I love this topic and the way you explain its importance are words I needed today to explain why I needed to buy stock in Kleenex back when I was a baby in my crib. Oh but there again, babies make me cry too. I love your dad's example that crying is a natural thing. Having a dad so proud of you is enough to make me tear up! Have a great weekend. As always, thanks for your words. ❤️

Expand full comment

And thanks for your words as well, Vicki, and your encouragement! It's good to be amongst the criers, ha! 💟

Expand full comment

Fabulous. It feels like the beginning of something that is going to dig down to all our deepest wells. What does it mean to be human?

Expand full comment

You're on track with that, Sallie! xoxo 💟

Expand full comment

Delightful beginning. As I've commented elsewhere on your tales, my mom cried during Mary Poppins but my dad had to ask my mom, "What is a feeling?" Dad tried to be cool and logical regardless of any challenge. He criticized me when I couldn't be. I learned before he died that my anxiety skyrocketed when I couldn't feel what was authentic at the moment. My mom could always hear when I was spinning. She'd immediately get me to start breathing, not that she was an expert at breathing when she was stressed. But once I started to breathe, the tears would erupt. The tightness in my throat would subside and I would immediately feel much better. I look forward to your next installment!

Expand full comment

Thank you, Lisa. It's a funny thing when I mention something is a multiple segment story, I feel pressure, not bad, but different than just a Friday post. So thanks for telling me you are looking forward to it, that will give me a boost :) 💟

Expand full comment

Please don't feel there is pressure to deliver. The deeper subjects, especially emotionally laden, have their own timeline. If evolution was easy, everyone would do it. If change was easy, humans wouldn't struggle and avoid it. Getting in close enough to feel and identify isn't as easy as having fun, describing a physical activity, explaining a corporate restriction, or complaining about boredom and conspiracies. Every step of your authentic process of allowing this subject matter to surface in you, and then become available for you to share with others, is important. Maybe not to all people all the time, but certainly for some people, it's a blog post worth waiting for and a read that will be remembered.

Expand full comment

Awww. thank you for sharing those kind words. I will keep them in mind. I really appreciate you. 💟

Expand full comment

Sue, I love this connection with your dad - that’s so special.

I’m a crier. I cried on every day of my 13-year school career. And crying is one of my telltale symptoms of hypoglycaemia. Added to that I’m the most emotional person I know - so there are plenty of non-medical reasons for crying in there too! But sometimes it’s either cry or explode - I know which I prefer!

Such a great post, and food for thought, as always.

Expand full comment

Thanks, Rebecca! Glad to know I'm in good company with a fellow crier!! 💟

Expand full comment

♥️

Expand full comment

I agree that tears bring us relief from emotional pain. The release one feels after a good cry are priceless.

Expand full comment

That they are, Lynn!!! 💟

Expand full comment

Thank you for this beautiful piece. Tears are so important, even scientists have determined that allowing tears to flow changes our biochemistry. I cannot remember exactly where I read that...

I have three sons and I have tried my darndest to ensure they understand that tears are normal, natural reactions that should be given space. Honour the feelings. When my daughter passed at age five, their father and I (we are now divorced, but that is another story... with more tears), stressed to them that what they were feeling could not be ignored. They could not go around their feelings, they must go through them to the other side to find acceptance and peace.

I have written about my daughter in a book published last year called Forever Five. Many tears have been shed on the road to acceptance and the new normal for all of us.

There are happy tears too! I believe we come to earth as Spiritual beings to have a human experience and that includes feeling the wide range of emotion there is available to us here on this water planet.

I look forward to the rest of your series. <3

Expand full comment

I am a life long crier! I also love that your dad, a man, was ok with crying because that’s not widely accepted in our society for a man to cry.

Expand full comment