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Today's
Meditation:
I've never really had a problem with crying, even
though in our culture we don't have a whole lot of
acceptance of people's tears-- especially among men.
But I've always felt better after a good cry, so when I do
feel the urge to cry I find a place where I can be by
myself and I do so. Tears to me are a cleansing
force. I don't know how they work, but if they can
take away even a small bit of the pain or frustration or
hopelessness that I feel, then they're welcome in my life.
When I see someone else who is moved to tears, I see
someone who is able to feel deeply and accept those
feelings. I see a strength of expression-- a person
who is feeling so strongly that he or she isn't at all
worried about what others might say about their
tears. If I'm watching a film that makes me cry
because of someone else's pain, I realize that the fact
that I'm moved to tears is a good sign because I'm able to
feel what someone else is feeling, even if that person is
a fictional character. This compassion is one of the
things that I most value in my life, for it lets me know
that I am trying to live a life of connection to others, a
life lived not just for myself alone in my own little
world, but a life that is touched by the lives of others,
and that tries to touch the life of others.
I want to be strong enough to express what I feel when I
feel it, and if tears are that expression, then so be it.
Tears are a blessing. Because we tend to save them
for sadness, we do them a bit of a disservice. Tears
speak more about who we are and what we value than any of
our words could, and even though they're not always
appropriate, when they do come they're very powerful
indeed. If we can learn to love our tears and pay
attention to the messages they bring us, we may just find
our lives growing in ways that we hadn't imagined before
simply because we're seeing and feeling things-- and
expressing the feeling-- that we hadn't really allowed ourselves to
feel before.
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