The Higher Purpose of Our Tears

What is the purpose of a tear? When these small drops of water well up in our eyes and cascade down our cheeks, what good do they serve us? Bringing them forth, more often than not, is heartache, disappointment, pain... something that we would rather avoid. Yet these tears can be the catalyst to great healing if we let them. So, I guess the question becomes, what is the higher purpose of a tear?

At first glance, the tears are emerging from a place of deep hurt that can no longer be suppressed. They push through the resilience that was built up against the assaults in life and expose to the world what can no longer be hidden. If we look from this perspective, we could name the people and situations that caused us to be enveloped in feelings of despair. In every healing journey, this is an important step. It is where we acknowledge that part of us feels wounded by some outside force. It is a part of ourselves that seeks to be listened to in a compassionate way, and in so doing we feel safe enough to look further than our pain.

Whatever brings about this feeling of sorrow is attached to many afflictions of the past. One wound presses up against another, old scars seem to overlap. Wisdom is seeking to emerge, like a tiny shoot of a plant that has just surfaced from the dark soil that kept it bound. These tears will allow that wisdom to grow and flourish. If we listen, if we nurture the process, the harvest will bless our lives for all of our days here on earth.

What I have discovered is that the higher purpose of a tear is to send us a signal. It is a sign that an opportunity has come into our lives to expand our awareness, deepen our compassion, and learn to love beyond our previous limitations. We must begin by trusting that a greater blessing exists within each challenge we face than the challenge itself. The tears provide the signal to nurture ourselves through the struggle so that we might discover some higher truth hidden within. 

Each tear we shed provides us with an opportunity to wipe away an old way of seeing the world that no longer serves us, one that holds us back and keeps us in pain. If we seek to see the world in a new light, when the tears dry up we will find our vision expands to new horizons. The tears that held so much sorrow will have cultivated an awareness that in truth, all of life is blessed.