“Tears are a sign of a soul feeling awake.”
— Michael Meade
I love that quote because it slams the notion that something is wrong with shedding tears. In truth, something is probably wrong if we don’t.
Like so many of us, I learned at an early age that tears aren’t acceptable, and that they stand for weakness. Better to put up a good front.
I finally grew up . . . from that sort of thinking. What I came to realize is spelled out in my column, Tears are as Natural as Breathing. There I write about two clients, “Jill” and “Ken,” who were conditioned as I was to fight their tears. Here’s an excerpt:
And far from indicating weakness, tears can be a sign of maturity and strength. Think about it: It takes toughness and courage to feel deeply, to hurt deeply, to grieve deeply. Only the courageous among us dare to do that. Tears are for the very gutsy, not the fainthearted.
Tell me your thoughts . . . .
I agree. I always feel tough and courageous when I cry. My problem is my mascara always runs and then the bad guys laugh at me. Any tips? I’ve tried the so-called “waterproof” brands, but they don’t work in many instances, especially when watching movies like Rudy…
Arnold Schwarzennegger
Tip:
Maybe it’s a good thing that the bad guys laugh at you. It keeps them too happy to assault you. So give up the search for “waterproof” mascara.
Les, if you’re wearing makeup while running around the city at night…you just might be a supervillain, not a hero…so maybe it’s the superheroes who are really laughing at you?
I was fortunate to have a mother who understood that tears were an expression of emotion including anger, love, joy, sadness or just an overwhelming feeling of beauty and acceptance. So I couldn’t agree more.