(this is a post from a long time ago but I still find it fascinating)
This might possibly be my most random post. ever.
I have been contemplating the phenomenon of crying. (lachrymation)
So strange isn't it?
So strange how our physical body and our emotions are so connected without our mind even being aware of it sometimes?
We can be sitting there, doing or saying something that we think is completely safe, and boom, the tears come. Something was happening in our emotions that our mind was not aware of, but our tear ducts certainly were.
(and keep in mind, our "emotions" are part of our "minds." It’s all so weird.)
And then, even when we put all of our mental and physical power into holding back the tears, sometimes the emotions are so powerful, there is nothing we can do. They just flow. It’s actually a chemical reaction. Man, how I'd like to see those chemicals in action. I want to see the trigger, then another trigger, then the build up, then the mix, then the reaction. And all the while, my mind is doing everything it can to try to stop it....but its too late, the chemicals have been released.
Those emotions are sneaky.
And then, the tear ducts connect to your nose (how does this happen?? or actually, why does it happen??? why the nose??), and it starts flowing.
And then your voice--you know the tremble. Why??
And then, if the emotions are feeling extra confident that day, you feel it in your whole body. A little crunch in the back.
The face contorts. (why so oddly?? why?)
You become weaker.
Your whole body is involved in the process, its harder to breath.
Actually, the loss of breath can happen at any part in the process.
Maybe from shock at what your body is doing? Maybe from overflow of emotions?
Maybe from your nose being stopped up?
Maybe from the fact that your body is focused on the whole crying process that it forgets to do the other functions?
And check this out: "Tears produced during emotional crying have a chemical composition which differs from other types of tears: they contain significantly greater quantities of hormones."
This is interesting because I've heard a proposed theory for why we "feel better" after crying is because of the elimination of hormones associated with stress.
"Crying is a mechanism developed in humans to dispose of this stress hormone when levels grow too high."
We truly are releasing things that NEED to be released!
Isn't is strange, overwhelming, sometimes beautiful, and sometimes really hard, to be in that moment when someone is talking to you, completely normal, and then boom, it hits.
Sometimes we are warned and we can see it building up....but sometimes....sometimes it just comes out and no one, not even the crier herself, is prepared!
And then the tears change everything. Changes the whole conversation. And you know it changes the weight of the words. The minute the tears come--everyone starts listening closer.
How does it have that effect??
And then, for people like me, if you’re listening to someone speak (like an official Speaker I am not conversing with) and they start crying--boom, it triggers something in me and you know the tears are coming for me too. why??? Why do tears have that effect on us?
But then other times, if I'm in conversation with someone, and they start crying, there's no way I'm going to cry--even if I tried. It is like my mind is just too focused on trying to figure out why they are crying, how I can make it better, and how I can be the rock for them at that moment.
Oh lachrymation...you perplex me, yet you are beautiful.
You are your own beast.
You have your own mind.
You mark many moments in our lives.
You communicate great things in our lives.
You bring about immense healing.
You release the negative toxins that need to be released.
You bring light into the darkness.
What an interesting part of the human experience.
