Laughing and Crying
I was thinking recently of why it is we may become conditioned to resist the expression of tears.
Why cry? What’s the point? What would be “productive” about just crying?
To me there’s great value in the expression of tears for no other reason than the act itself, and with no need to apologize for or justify their expression.
We may learn, though, that tears indicate something is “wrong,” or that the person crying is “weak,” or that something about the current situation needs to be “fixed.”
What is so wrong with tears? Why stop? Simply because we’ve learned we should?
Crying, to me, is something very similar to laughing.
We laugh due to a feeling inside.
Something happens…
and then genuine, unintentional, sounds come bursting from our vocal cords.
Of course sometimes we might contrive laughter, due to some social expectation.
But to laugh from the bottom of our souls
is just something that happens,
and we experience it,
it happens through us.
And it is beautiful.
(When my wife has a “laugh attack,” as we call it, it’s one of my favorite things in the world to be a part of).
It is an expression of something deeply human.
And we embrace it.
We laugh simply to laugh.
For no instrumental “productive” purpose.
The expression is valuable and full in and of itself.
And we feel a physical release, an energy explosion.
I see crying as another manifestation of the same underlying process.
And I see it as just as valuable and equally “productive” as laughing,
simply in the act itself.
If you feel the urge to cry,
Why not let it come rushing to the surface?
To me, that is as beautiful as riotous laughter.
And I let it happen as much as possible.
I believe both laughter and tears
are physical expressions of something spiritual,
and to release them is a spiritual act,
whatever that might mean to you.
