My son has been complaining about eyelashes in his eye lately. Usually it’s on the rim and I can gently swipe it off for him. This latest incident was in the van while driving so I obviously couldn’t help him. So we talked about how his eye needed to tear up to flush it out. That sometimes, things get past our eyebrows and eyelashes and our eyes need to cry.
You know the old phrase, the eye is the window to the soul? And the more offensive phrase - when spoken to a woman in a condescending tone - why are women so emotional?
Well, I think the eye IS like the soul. And humans, women especially, carry a lot of inner weight that comes from being a born helper, nurturer, and empathetic being who processes a lot at the same time.
I’ve become a crier as I’ve aged. Sometimes it’s simply because a person is crying in a movie. I absolutely cannot watch a person even begin to tear up without my own chest heaving and my face crumpling a bit. Sometimes I cry from the stress and headaches of parenting littles who wake too early and talk and ask for too much. But sometimes I cry because something got past the “eyebrows and eyelashes” of my soul. And I either didn’t deal with it, or I simply need a good cry to flush it out and finish processing it.
I love this quote: “The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tear, or the sea.”
A quick 2 mile run around my neighborhood while listening to music easily dissolves the accumulated stress of daily parenting. A good cry will flush out stress, hurt, frustration or conviction. And we all know how healing being by the sea is. We breathe deeper and feel a little cleaner inside.
I think crying is one of those built in healing mechanisms. So as embarrassing as it is - I HATE crying in front of people - don’t fight it. Sometimes our soul, just like our eyeballs, is just doing its job.
