As I continue my journey I was reflecting this evening how I feel after a good cry. Based on my memory (and I ain't saying it's perfect :) ) almost all good cries:

• leave me feeling calm and at peace, for anywhere from several hours to days (one especially memorable cry in July 2006 left me in a deep peace for a week I think).
• result in a release of tension regarding some aspect of the central issue which triggered (?) the cry which is permanent.

I question if a cry is triggered by an issue - the least speculative statement I'd make would be that a good cry and and a central issue are highly correlated.

Given my worldview is less linear than most (C causes A causes B which causes C which causes A...) I speculate that a cry is a vital part of a psychological process which if interrupted or interfered with impede what would otherwise be a significant healing experience.

Many times in the last four years I have felt the need to cry during a specific time of day. If I'm paying attention internally I can usually sense that something's up several hours prior. I'll use my usual tools to clear what I think is the issue - if the feeling persists I accept that something deeper is surfacing.

Paradoxically the need to cry usually comes when I am in a public place and if I hold it in until I am in private the urge passes and it seems along with it the potential of the internal shift which picked that time to attempt to occur. This has been maddening in its own right.

It's really quite amazing when you think about it - viewed as a machine (designed or evolved, you pick) the human body has physical processes working at levels macro (tear ducts, sinus stuff, etc), micro (hormonal and others?) and possibly beyond (changes in brain synapse connections?) which result in lasting positive emotional and mental changes.

Seen this way perhaps others will give themselves permission to have a good cry. It's unfortunate that culturally (at least in Western culture as I know it) this healing tool is usually seen as a sign of weakness (really, the odds that someone reading this didn't at least tentatively lower their opinion of me as a man because I admit to crying is greater than 0%).

Maybe it's time we rethought that part of our culture...