Tears of Healing: Understanding the Surprising Health Benefits of Crying

When the heaviness of your heart swells your chest, emotions clog your head and your mouth goes numb gasping for breath, the little droplets of pearls part from the eyes drenching the skin and the skies! But then a voice thunders by your side, “Don’t cry, baby. It will all be over!” That’s the biggest lie they will ever tell you!

There are actually many health benefits of crying!!! Science explains.

Psychology describes this as emotional catharsis. A process in which emotions are displayed in their untainted version.

The enlightened ones know this and that’s why they recommend to shed those tears.

The seers and psychologists concur with the idea that emotions need to be vented out. Because bottling things within is such a poisonous act!

Let your tears drown the pillow or wet the bed. Because once it’s done you will get up better, feeling lighter and smiling brighter.

Tears cleanse your soul. It gives wings to your latched feelings buried deep. Crying brings you out of that strangling closet. It helps you move ahead shedding the weight.

Health Benefits of Crying

1. Crying makes you less vulnerable

It is our unexpressed emotions that turn us vulnerable.

Our life is guided by experiences. Especially the bad and sad ones.

And this is what marketers and filmmakers, TV shows, and news channels try to exploit.

It is that soft contused corner of your heart that drives our decisions. Market analysis has proved that our shopping patterns are more influenced by emotions than logic.

This answers all your impulse buys and unwanted stocks!

This vulnerability brings instability to our relationships!

2. Crying can heal an emotional trauma

Emotional trauma is as common as bruises. Hitting the corner of the table or flipping on the floor.

Its intangibility does not make it irrational. Rather the emotional wounds need a deeper look because you never know how deep the impact is! 

From a feud with a friend to the loss of a loved one, an unseen failure or an unforeseen loss, a trauma or heartbreak, abuse or an argument with the spouse, or some dark incident of the past, anything can cause the blood boil in pain.

And sometimes it can be something as ignorant as stress or anger.

All these negative feelings are often fostered in some unconscious corner of our brain which when tickled can come crushing in the form of an emotional outburst.

3. Crying is the outlet of emotions

From joy to sorrow, fear and triumph everything rolls down with teary eyes. 

Catharsis can bring incredible value in the treatment of anxiety and panic, depression, and insomnia. 

Also getting out a portion of the damaged thoughts empties ample space in the head which can then be engaged in productive work. 

Crying helps! – An anecdote

Last evening, my close friend who recently attended a workshop on personality development, unwrapped the wisdom of the health benefits of crying.

She gave several accounts of people crying incessantly in the workshop when asked about their past. When their emotions were aroused many could not control but embarrass themselves flapping in the oceans of their own sorrows.

It’s true that we get to see so many instances where people let loose their emotional balance when they meet their inner selves in yoga sessions or personality developmental seminars.

They see a part of their innocence washing away. How their circumstances changed into a person they don’t know. Times when circumstances knocked them down. How their own people stabbed them in the back.

The hand on their back is no more there or the reason for their smile exists no more.

Catharsis

Catharsis is a Greek term that refers to cleansing or purifying. It was first used in a psychological context by famous psychologist Josef Breuer. It was brought to prominence by his student Sigmund Freud who used this technique to treat his patients with hysteria.

In this treatment, they made the patient deliberately remember the trauma of the past and walk over that blocked lane once again, but this time knowing the consequences and seeing things in a lighter frame.

It was noted that when people let their suppressed emotions out, they experience relief from the emotional baggage as well as from their physical symptoms.

Jordan Peterson -The man who knows the mind

Rock Star Of Psychology, Canadian Clinical Psychologist Jordan Peterson says Cries are Tears of Gratitude over Audience Testimonies. He mentions how people walk up to him just for a 15-second chat to thank him for the remarkable transformation that his talks have brought to them.

He says, “It takes a lot of courage for people to own up to their feelings and then move ahead, but they often get even the minimal encouragement that they seek”.

While talking about the impact of his work and the way he was blessed to touch lives, he could not help but let out his tears of gratitude to be captured in the camera!

Conclusion: Health Benefits of Crying

Crying is liberating. Whether you are a man or woman, no matter how strong you are, crying helps you cope better and live healthier. Emotions often paralyze you, especially when you try too hard to suppress them in the face of your adversities, and then at a point, even the bleakest breeze may break you down. Catharsis is an important therapy, especially for introverts who prefer bottling and sulking in rather than venting out. Crying does not make you weak, it just reminds you of your human qualities, to feel and to express. 

8 tips that can help you practice Catharsis

1. Music
2. Drama
3. Art
4. Therapy
5. Writing or reading
6. Psychoanalysis 
7. Humour
8. Confession

Many suggest punching bags or screaming aloud as great options but recent studies have confirmed that aggression just makes the person more aggressive!

So, practice these healthy healing tips and let your emotions find a door through your eyes to leave your soul unburdened!