Proud crier, proud feeler
One of the adjectives that I use to describe myself is emotionful. I am full of emotions and, thanks to the relief of discovering Simon Sinek's theory of the limbic brain - the part of our anatomy that processes feelings - I not only feel totally comfortable with that, I am actually really proud and feel truly blessed that I feel all of the emotions. A lot. The way I am with my emotions is like the weather in San Francisco - very unpredictable and very changeable. Those who know me (or who read the stuff I write), will know that I am a huge fan of author Glennon Doyle (she who wrote Untamed), and one my favourite quotes of hers, from Untamed, is
All feelings are for feeling
(Incidentally, prior to this (most of my life up till now), I berated myself for being "too emotional". I could have reframed the word emotional, and instead chose to replace it with emotionful, as it just sits really nicely with me.)
Over the last week or so, I have been incredibly tearful. Anything could set me off to be honest. And the beauty of the work that I've done on myself over the last few years is that I'm happy with that. I'm a proud crier. I enjoy crying as it's very cathartic. I read recently that "....crying can actually be a very healing and spiritual experience. It is a wonderful way to release stagnant and unpleasant energy, especially if you are empathic. We have obviously been conditioned to see crying as weakness, but in other cultures, crying is actually collectively seen as a very enlightening experience."
All of these things that I have learned, and continue to learn, really help me understand and love who I am. The "perfect model of a person" that is constantly thrust at us from all sides by media, advertising and the patriarchy is not who I am. And it is not who I would ever choose to be. All of the songs about us being who we are (I Am What I Am, This Is Me etc.) make a lot of sense. I will absolutely continue to bang my own drum.
Thank you for listening.
*if you enjoy the themes of these musings and would like to learn more, or join in similar conversations, please head over to The Listening House.