Breathe
Hold your breath.
Wait.
Wait some more.
Give it another moment.
Do you feel the tension... in your lungs? Now in your chest? In your shoulders? Eventually in your arms, in your legs, in your head, and in your whole body. The pressure is building.
Wait.
What happened?
You gave in. You’re breathing. All at once…. gasping! You’re overcome by this physiological reflex… because you’re alive. Your breath is a vital sign.
And so are your tears. You might hold them back. You might refuse them for a moment, a season… persistently.
Your tears returned… inconveniently… uncontrollably….by surprise… in a burst of feeling... unwelcomed.
This is not a sign of breakdown. This is a vital sign.
“All I do know is as we age, the weight of our unsorted baggage becomes heavier. With each passing year, the price of our refusal to do that sorting rises higher and higher. Long ago, the defenses I built to withstand the stress of my childhood, to save what I had of myself, outlived their usefulness, and I’ve become an abuser of their once lifesaving powers.
I relied on them wrongly to isolate myself, seal my alienation, cut me off from life, control others, and contain my emotions to a damaging degree. Now the bill collector is knocking, and his payment will be in tears.”
