“Crying is Not Weakness”
by Kelvin Chin
Life After Life Expert
We do a terrible job allowing ourselves to express emotions in our cultures worldwide. This problem does not just exist in the United States. I have clients now in 44 countries, and I’ve seen this problem everywhere, and in all social and economic strata.
When I say “emotions,” I don’t mean anger, because that emotion gets expressed quite freely in the world. And I think that particular emotion is a result of two things: not accepting reality the way it is, and pent up emotional frustration.
As a result, the most widespread and unfortunately, the most accepted emotion that we see on a daily basis is anger. We see it in many forms — mothers screaming at disobeying children, husbands abusing their wives, teenagers bullying their peers, and wars on many continents.
To be clear, I’m not here to address the complexities of all those different conflicts.
But I do want to address one aspect of expressing our emotions. Crying.
We can cry for many reasons...
Sadness or Happiness
Release of pressure
Longing for someone, something or someplace, or
Recognition — perhaps of an old relationship
But it’s not a sign of weakness.
In fact, I think it’s a sign of strength. It’s a sign of inner strength. A sign that the person has a high enough sense of self-esteem that he or she doesn’t care what others think and simply can express his/her emotions as they come up.
Remember that — when you see someone tearing up and apologizing for “being emotional.”
Instead say, “No, it’s ok for you to express how you’re feeling in that way.”
Acknowledge who they are at that moment in that simple way. By saying that, you are saying, as our Native American friends would say, that you “see” them.
Recognize that person as a strong person. Someone who may be more in touch with his inner self than you realize. An independent free thinking and feeling being.
Kelvin H. Chin is a Meditation Teacher, Life After Life Expert, and Author of “Overcoming the Fear of Death,” “Marcus Aurelius Updated: 21st Century Meditations On Living Life” and “After the Afterlife: Memories of My Past Lives.” He learned to meditate at age 19, and has been teaching Turning Within Meditation and coaching others in their self-growth for 40 years. He helps people understand their life challenges through their individual belief systems, and helps them find their own solutions. His past life memories reach back many centuries, and he accesses those memories in his teaching and his coaching in the same way all coaches draw on their own available experiences for perspective and effective analogies. He can be reached at www.OvercomingTheFearOfDeath.org or www.TurningWithin.org.