I just watched an interview about Marianne Willamson’s newest book, Tears to Triumph; the video here is shorter but gets right to point!
Burying the sad leads to more sad later. We spend a lot of time avoiding bad feelings, but it won’t necessarily make you happier. Williamson explains how we need to treat our mental pains like physical ones. If we hurt our knee we don’t just take pain killers, we have physical therapy, look at what we were doing that caused injury and how to prevent it. Emotionally if we’re sad we often bury it in a movie, exercise, drink, or try to be happier. Instead she she suggests running towards the tears like the story of water buffalo running towards the storm- it’s the quickest way through it.
Two ideas to turn tears to triumph.
Exploration. Once you have run into the storm or “put the pain on the alter”, ask yourself: What is the meaning of this pain? What does this pain reveal to me? What is it calling for me to understand? Prayer. Prayer here is an solemn request. Here are a few lines from the longer version: “I surrender to you the pain that is in my heart…I give to you my failure, my shame my loss my devastation…help me remember and reclaim my good…show we me how I am to you that self hate will not defeat me.”