Bottling Up Our Tears
We live in a western culture where tears often make people uncomfortable - the person witnessing them as much as the person weeping them. Whether tears stem from a place of sorrow or joy, we have become a people determined to hide them.
History tells another tale. Some past cultures used to collect their tears in bottles to show their loved ones how missed they were when off to war. The bottle of tears became a symbol of their love and longing to have back those most important to them. There was no shame in revealing their tears.
In our present culture many cry their tears privately into a Kleenex and then throw them in the trash. Or worse yet we bottle them up inside ourselves, suppressing them from finding any chance of escape.
When we lock up our tears inside we also keep those closest to us from entering these tender places. We desperately hold each other at a distance while at the same time desperately need to be close to each other.
What if instead of hiding or bottling up our tears inside, we were to share them with a trusted loved one? By doing so the hearts of these loved ones become the bottles in which we now contain these precious drops - a tremendous gift to both.
Posted by Thaddeus Heffner, LMFT May 5, 2014