Tiny, salty, badges of courage
Today I need to share something very urgent with all of you. This is a message about the Truth in your tears, and the preciousness inside of you that we call emotions.
Most people find themselves unhappy, seeking out things in the physical world to give them this feeling of joy. At some point, we realize we’ve reached a point where we’ve got to start looking elsewhere. Material things didn’t do it. Money didn’t quite make the mark either. Working out and sculpting our body maybe fell short as well.
I’m here to tell you, that you have come to this place because you are a seeker of Light, not happiness.
You see, much of the ‘self-help’ movement has focused on how we can manipulate our minds and trick ourselves into feeling better. If that truly were the answer, there wouldn’t need to be any more books, speeches or gurus to get us there…. and yet, there are, and here we are.
Feelings, my dear readers, are a precious gift. They are a way of experiencing the world in a body. Yes, we have our 5 senses, but we also have our emotions, which are discounted and treated as inconvenience. Yet, we continue to seek. We continue to find that one holy grail emotion, happiness, through artificial means. Let me ask this question. Do you really even know what happiness means? Is happiness falling in love? Is it being greeted by a puppy who is excited to see you? Is it the feeling secure in the arms of a loved one, or the face of a child who trusts us to care for them?
We are coming at this from the wrong angle. Some of you may have answered ‘yes’ to the aforementioned scenarios. But heres the thing- they are just scenarios. How you feel about them, and what you feel about them is not the scenario, itself, but the internal process of experiencing the scenario.
Feelings are not to be ignored, manipulated or confused into being other feelings. They are messengers. They provide insight into your current state of experiencing the world. They allow you to experience things from your heart space, which is nothing to scoff at. We’re tricked into this way of thinking about ourselves as these little machines, run by our brain and powered by thoughts alone. We are not. We have emotions because they are an integral part of our experience.
Emotions are the bridge between the Soul and the Body. That is why the lower or more ‘physical’ chakras and the higher or more ‘spiritual’ chakras meet in the middle, at the Heart Chakra.
My title speaks of one particular kind of emotion- the kind that illicit those beautiful little badges of salty courage, and love that spill from our eyes, sometimes without our permission. These are the emotions of grief, sadness, shame, lonliness, pain, regret, and fear. This is only a small sampling of what kinds of feelings may bring you to tears, but for the purposes of this blog post, they will suffice. Tears are not acceptable in Western society. We are taught that from an early age. Tears mean you are weak. Tears mean you have CHOSEN to be a victim. Tears mean you are shameful. Tears mean you cannot control yourself. Lastly, tears mean there is something very wrong.
Tears, can be many things. I will list a few examples here.
– Relief
– Letting go
– Strength or endurance
– Cleansing
– An outpouring of Love or Joy that we cannot contain but must allow to flow through us
One thing tears are not. Tears are never ‘wrong.’
Your thoughts and emotions are not separate. They are different. I like to describe thoughts as the way we process situations from the collective information we hold in our brains, and emotion as the way we experience a situation with our Hearts. You cannot think yourself out of a feeling, and you cannot feel yourself out of your thinking (although sometimes it feels that way). They both have something to say, to contribute to the conversation that is your experience of the world.
Please, honor your feelings, especially your tears. They need not be public, but they should always be listened to. The next time you experience an emotion that brings you to tears, allow them to happen, and then speak to them. Ask them what message they have for you. Connect them to your thoughts, but never mistake them as thoughts. Your emotions and thoughts are holding hands, and exist to assist you on your journey here. Respect them both, and your world will transform.
Confessions of a Spirit Messenger 