It’s dry, really dry, both on the land and in the eyes of the people who live upon it.
People prefer smiles and sunshine. The gifts of birth, growth and renewal suffer in the process. Restoring the water cycle begins with restoring our own natural rhythms. Energy in motion, "E-motions" are fleeting experiences of the world. They are meant to come and go, freely without attachment. When we suppress sadness, grief, and hopelessness, we lock up the water wheel of life.
Meditation can provide a way to rediscover our heart. It is a safe place to allow feelings to rise, condense in awareness and tearfully fall. We cry to release the clouds within, clearing the mind and restoring the authentic power of the sun rather than a false smile that sits upon a mountain of pretending.
“Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about,” - life thirsts for water but we’re conditioned to withhold. What do we lose in the process?
Crying is a bubbling spring of health benefits. We produce three kinds of tears: reflex; continuous; and emotional. Detox and cleansing, they all have in common.
Get something in your eye like smoke, dust, or child’s flailing finger, reflex tears jump into action, cleaning out debris and acting as the body’s own eye wash station. Mostly water and some infection-fighting antibodies, reflex tears flush out onion-like irritants and environmental allergens. They get the gunk out, fighting things off that create discomfort or could even harm your eyes.
Continuous or basal tears are your baseline waterworks. Nature’s concoction of oil, water, and mucus, continuous tears shield your eyeballs, keeping them happy, lubricated and protected. The significant reduction in blink rate caused by computer use has spurred an increase in Dry Eye, a health condition where your body doesn’t produce enough continuous tears.
Crying is most commonly associated with emotional tears. Whereas continuous tears are made up of 98 percent water, their emotional counterpart contains stress hormones and other toxins that they flush from the body. These chemically unique ‘extras’ have relaxing or pain-relieving benefits that regulate the body and restore its natural stress-free state.
The Japanese have embraced the benefits of a good cry. “Rui-katsu” (tear seeking) “Crying clubs” have sprung up in some cities, providing a common refuge for emotional expression. Gathering with handkerchiefs and Kleenex, the seekers indulge in classic tearjerkers to call forth the flow. An unusual form of mental health gym, participants are validated and find relief in crying.
Bottling up our baby ways may be to the detriment of adult mental health. While many people try to stifle their tears in fear of looking weak, crying serves as a natural valve for the release of tension. Letting down your guard literally defuses the fight or flight flow in favour of the relaxing river of the parasympathetic nervous system.
Crying is a self-soothing mechanism that alerts you that something is wrong, dulls pain, fights infection, improves mood, rallies support, restores emotional balance, and shows stress the way out.
Crying is a self-soothing mechanism that alerts you that something is wrong, dulls pain, fights infection, improves mood, rallies support, restores emotional balance, and shows stress the way out. Why we have collectively imprisoned this uniquely human natural response is baffling.
Society may not be ready for bawling your eyes out in the boardroom but what about retreating to a quiet spot and giving yourself permission to feel all the feels, including joy, happiness, gratitude, overwhelm, anger, frustration, grief, and despair. Meditation is a safe place to settle inside away from the superficial hustle of busyness and business. It offers a refuge to relax, take inventory and, if required time to time, open the emotional flood gates to release pent up energy and restore the harmony of balance.
Meditation is not meant to eliminate thoughts and feelings but rather to welcome the present however it is appearing. Learn to sit in the company of your authentic emotions. Enjoy your emotional weather patterns – the smiles of sunny days, the huffy winds of anger, the tumultuous waves of despair. The restoration of your own natural water rhythms may give Father Sky permission to release his life-giving tears into the waiting and receptive shoulder of Mother Earth.