Join my email book club. Over 330,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/
Dear Reader,
April reads at the book club and last week she wrote to me about the emotional tug-of-war she feels watching her aging parents' health decline. I was particularly touched by the last two paragraphs of her email:
"I have struggled to cry. That doesn't sound like a problem I suppose, but it really makes it so much harder to cope as there is no release. Once in a while I've had a bit of a sob, but nothing very satisfying.
Your column [about remembering your mother] made me cry, and finally really acknowledged my sorrow at watching the end of my parents lives being lived in such a climate of suffering and pain. What a relief it is to have been able to have a good old sob! Thank you. I wonder if you had any idea that your column, about your Mom, would help so many people."
What a lovely thank you and April's right, it is a problem when you're not able to cry.
It used to be easy for me to cry. I didn't get carried away and start sobbing on street corners, but when I felt like crying, when I needed to cry--I did.
Crying felt as comfortable as any other emotion, I never analyzed my need to cry--no permission was asked for, or granted. And I didn't stop myself because I felt embarrassed--the tears came easily and when they subsided, I was ready to move on.
But now crying is always my last resort and I don't understand why.
Somewhere along the way, I lost the art and ease of crying. And now, like April, I'm struggling to find my way back.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
http://www.DearReader.com
AUTHORBUZZ: Five terrific books that are all must reads and free copies for lucky readers, Timothy Schaffert, Devils in the Sugar Shop; Alyson Noël, Kiss & Blog; Ken Kalfus, A Disorder Peculiar to the Country; Jennifer O'Connell, Insider Dating; and Tim Willocks, The Religion. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader
READ THE CLASSICS: My Antonia by Willa Cather and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/358deh
Interesting that there are no comments on crying..yet.
I remember my dear Aunt crying about some sensitive situation and her husband and daughter laughing at her...and then I'd feel my eyes sting because I knew Aunt Fran now felt doubly sad. I was only 10 or so but it taught me the grace of "... weep with those who weep". It's a rare person who joins me in a cry... and I don't know why.
As a Pan Am stewardess I often replenished the Kleenex pack of passengers and brought a freshly dampened towel to catch sobs on our long overseas flights. To lessen their feeling conspicuous I'd sit in an adjoining empty seat knowing that a good cry often makes ya' feel better, quicker.
It is strange how tears make some people uncomfortable.
This last New Year's Eve Discovery ran a program on the well-known therapy of laughter, Associations have formed to get together just to laugh. It needn't be funny to be therapeutic and get everyone into it. It's not the 'emotion' that's healthy but just the physical act: 100 laughs is equal to 10 minutes of aerobic exercise.
Perhaps there's a market for Sobsters to just get together and chop some onions! Tear Tracks in sad movies might improve the rating if people feel more legitimately involved with the characters.
It might just be a vit/mineral imbalance that raises or lowers our tolerance levels.
It's nice to know there are others who appreciate crying as a valuable expression...and I join Shulz's Lucy: Smile and the world Smiles with you, Cry and you break the Monotony:) NIna
Posted by: Nina | May 18, 2007 at 07:28 PM