Monday, March 23, 2009

AY-men.

Monday, March 23, 2009

You are reading from the book Today's Gift

It feels so good to cry. . .
--Susan Cygnet
Some of us were taught that it's bad to express our feelings directly--crying, wailing, jumping up and down for joy--that it's good manners to talk softly, slowly, and politely and to sit still.

But what happens to our feelings when we sit still? If they don't get expressed, they must be caught inside our bodies. Trapped feelings are like birds in a cage, or a rabbit in a trap--they try to get out any way they can. They peck on our heads and give us headaches. They scratch at our stomachs and make us hurt.

We must let them out. We must laugh and cry. Then our bodies will be happy, and our feelings will curl up in our laps like happy puppies.

Am I ignoring the physical symptoms of trapped feelings?

uh... yes.

i started the day with tears. while i agree that starting every day as such might indicate a larger problem - depression, say - i think i just damn well needed to shed a few. i've been juggling A LOT over the past several weeks, the anxiety has been building and building and building, and the dam just crumbled this morning.. crumbled right into my coffee. i felt dumb about it, of course... and weak, and silly, and hormonal, but then i came across this thought for the day, and i felt a lot better about my little episode. from Hazelden.

1 comment:

Danielle Filas said...

I wholeheartedly agree that a good cry helps the soul immensely. And I mean the ugly cry. Not the movie star glycerin-tear-drop-slides-down-pale-cheek crap. A good ol' heaving, wailing, red-nosed, red-eyed, mucusy, gasping sob fest.
I have, in my past, been honored to participate in the Lakota Sioux cleansing ritual of the sweat lodge.... a good cry, to me, seems like an internal sweat lodge. It's exhausting, it's no party, but it cleanses the soul.
Good luck and good energy to you, friend.