As I have mentioned and you have probably noticed, there's some cosmic craziness going on. There's been a lot of death, separation, natural disasters, and general chaos. Just about everyone I know is facing some kind of serious challenge or major transition right now. It's upheaval. Have I mentioned my daughter is going off to school? Oh, I have? Right-o. I'll probably mention it again.

These times require we let go of things no longer serving us, and that often comes with grief.

Me? I cry a lot. I cry at commercials. I'm every advertiser’s dream - super easy to emotionally manipulate. I cry at a lot of movies. Good Lord, you should have seen me at the last Star Wars movie. I cry every time my son leaves to go back to the US. I cry reading books. I cry for my friends. I cry for the suffering in the world. I cry at footage of every tragedy. I cry at the beauty and sweetness of my kids. I sometimes cry thinking about things that never even happened. I'm crying right now. It's how I'm wired.

In fact I show most of my emotions pretty easily. Then I let them go. Now I'm not some enlightened being. I literally don't know how to hold it back. Sometimes I would like to have a slightly better handle on myself. Even after all these years it's still hard to cry in front of other people. That's so crazy. It's especially crazy because crying is so good for us.

We feel the need to apologize for our tears, for all of our emotions. Why is that? We recently had a terrible tragedy in our community. A wildlife filmmaker who has lived here in Belize for more than 40 years was brutally murdered. His wife also has MS. She apologized for not being able to organize a memorial right now. It's madness. Whatever we feel needs to be ok, and it is. Because it's what we are feeling.

Of course you don't want to cry all the time, but, well, you want to cry like a baby. I don't know why this is used as an insult. Babies are the best criers. They cry hard and loud. They really feel their sadness. Then it's gone. Boom! They can completely change moods in a second. Same with their anger. They get mad, mad, mad. Then they're fine, and they love the object of their anger once again. It's marvelous.

So often we want to convince ourselves and each other that we are fine all the time. We want to believe we can just always be ok. That's absolutely ridiculous. Let yourself feel what comes. Really feel it, and then you can let it go. If you don't allow yourself to feel it, you'll be carrying it forever. It reminds me of an old Zen story.

“Two traveling monks reached a river where they met a young woman. Wary of the current, she asked if they could carry her across. One of the monks hesitated, but the other quickly picked her up onto his shoulders, transported her across the water, and put her down on the other bank. She thanked him and departed.

As the monks continued on their way, the one was brooding and preoccupied. Unable to hold his silence, he spoke out.’Brother, our spiritual training teaches us to avoid any contact with women, but you picked that one up on your shoulders and carried her!’

‘Brother,’ the second monk replied, ‘I set her down on the other side, while you are still carrying her.’”

Feel it. Experience it. Let it go.

I had a friend many years ago who was going through some stuff, and he would often talk about the power of grief. It allows us to release our pain. In some of the old traditions they say tears feed the holy. In others they say tears carry the dead to the spirit world. They heal us. They heal our past. They heal our ancestors. Grieve big and loud, friends. It's a big transition we are in.

Much love, y’all!

As always, all pics are mine or pixabay unless otherwise noted.