Opening Reflection:

As a little girl, I learned quickly that emotions were something to be hidden. “Children should be seen and not heard”, they said. I remember holding in my tears, swallowing the lump in my throat, because my mother told me only weak women cry. This lesson was clear: feelings were dangerous, shameful – a sign of failure.

But even then, my soul knew the truth. Late at night, I would sneak into my closet, bury my face into a pillow and cry. It felt good – necessary even- but I was terrified of being caught. In the darkness, hidden away, I learned that crying was a sacred ritual, a forbidden healing my spirit clung to when no one was looking.

I didn’t realize it then, but those hidden tears were my soul saving itself.

Part 1: The Programming We Were Given

Growing up, many of us were taught to equate tears with weakness. Be strong. Be quiet. Don’t let them see you cry.

The world around us echoed the same belief: vulnerability was dangerous, and to survive, we had to harden ourselves. We learned to apologize for our feelings, to mistrust our emotions, to build walls instead of bridges.

But the truth is: The programming was a lie.

Part 2: The Soul’s Truth About Tears

Just recently, as I sat with the incredible transformation unfolding in my life, the tears came again – but this time I didn’t hide. I let them fall freely, and something amazing happened.

The tears didn’t just feel like sadness. They felt like a great pressure lifting from my body. A silent, invisible burden I had carried for long was releasing itself through me, like sacred rivers finally finding their way home.

These were not tears of weakness. They were tears of rebirth. They were the sacred waters of my becoming.

For the first time I understood. Tears are not breakdowns – they are breakthroughs. They are how the soul speaks when words are not enough. They are how we shed the old skins and awaken to new versions of ourselves.

Part 3: Healing Through Remembering

Allowing myself to cry – to feel fully- is a new journey for me. One that opened once, I realized I am not just this body. I am a soul, vast, infinite, luminous – and emotions are one of the ways my soul breathes life into this human experience.

I no longer apologize for healing. I no longer shame my tears. I honor them. I thank them for carrying away the pain I was never meant to hold onto forever.

Every tear shed in love, in growth, in remembrance is sacred act of becoming.

Closing: A New Belief

If I could speak to the little girl hiding in the closet, clutching a pillow to muffle her cries, I would tell her :

” Beautiful girl, let them flow. The tears will help you grow into an amazing , strong woman”

Today, I live by a new truth. *Tears are strength. *Feeling is freedom. *Vulnerability is sacred power.

I honor my sacred waters. I am strong because I feel. I am free because I feel.

Journal prompts :

What messages were you given about tear growing up? How do you feel about crying now? What old beliefs about emotions are ready to be release?

~Serenity