tears bring a creative time to heal

Anne Lamott spoke recently at the 2010 WomanKIND conference in Richmond at St. James Episcopal Church. I've been thinking about the words she used and instead of telling you about her words, I thought I'd share some of her thoughts on crying.

Tonight begins a new bereavement group that I will lead using art as creative expression. Each stroke speaks to healing: the hope to heal from a child's early death to the anger of watching a child suffer through illness. Each moment breathing in each other's stories will be a sacred time, a restoring time. A time to honor and a time to grieve.

As I processed my own emotions over a friend's heart breaking moments in life, I processed through art. I share that image with you in this post, as tears were involved. Tears that turned into song.

Anne Lamott's Thoughts on Crying from WomanKIND 2010. My Notes:

Mother Theresa: We can't all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.

Pour into others, trust, & let go. Cry. Breathe.

Crying: is a sacrament. there's a salvation to crying.

We [women] are raised to believe to get over certain losses. You'll never get over all of them. There's not a system of getting over this, though the world thinks so.

Subversive: cry as much and as long as you need to.

Crying & Anger: gives YOU you back.

Water like a plant mister. Will hydrate the ground & your feet. Brings you to your butt & that's where grace is. Advent is a time to grow plants. Seeds, and that's in the dark. We don't know what we're growing.

Face your shadow. Cry your eyes out. Will wash you into where the divine intelligence. It is where/who you really are.