Have you noticed whenever you read a self-care tip list, it always has upbeat things to do like ‘throw a dance party’, ‘do a facial’, ‘paint and sip’? Yet, I rarely see things like ‘go to a rage room’, ‘scream into a pillow’ or ‘cry it out’.
When it comes to self-care especially during moments of stress, it’s important that we don’t mask the feelings but face it head on in its natural state.
There’s this fun research that Biochemist, Dr. William Frey, did back in the day. People call him the tear expert because William discovered that we have two different types of tears. What the…? Two types of tears! Cool, right? But what makes it even cooler is one of those kinds of tears is called emotional tears. These tears are the ones filled with the stress toxins and hormones we store in our body. The other kind of tear is called reflex tears. These tears are just made up of water. Therefore, when you cry emotional tears, you are releasing the stress, toxins, and negative energies from your body! This is why some cries lead to a feeling of release versus other cries make you feel heavier afterwards.
The next time you feel overwhelmed to the point your eyes start to water, let it out. When you feel stressed and at your boiling point, let it out. Whenever you feel sad and just need to cry, let it out. This is one of the easiest, calming, and most refreshing ways to reenergize your spirit, and dump out the stress. Try this meditation to help you get started.
The best to make sure you are crying emotional tears vs reflex tears is to simply put your intention into releasing and not reserving. Meaning, in the moment of you crying it all out, don’t hold back like you want to reserve some of the stress for later. Let it all out until you feel that light feeling; the feeling you get after a good cry when your spirit secretly whispers, “thank you.”
Now that’s definitely something to add to your self-care list.