Emotion

In Mitch Alboms Tuesdays With Morrie, he talks about emotions (great book, read it if you havnt already). In life we have things happen to us that enlist certain feelings, some good and some bad. Morrie believed that we should not let our emotions run our life. When we feel sadness or despair, we should not let it control us for more than a moment. When we feel something, we should recognize it for what it is. Say to yourself, this is sadness. I recognize that I am sad, I am going to live these few moments of sadness and then move on.

I think sometimes when things in life happen, like a loved one dying we have a hard time getting through it. We live in our emotions for longer than we should. Life does not wait for us to get over things.

I remember when I was 2 maybe 3 years old my Grandpa passed away. He had come to stay with us because he had Cancer and needed help. That day I had walked up to the high school with my dad to get something from his classroom and when we came back there were ambulences in front of our house. I remember my mom putting all us girls in her bedroom and we couldnt help but peek out and see the paramedics people running down the hallway. He died that day. The next thing I remember was sitting next to my dad on the church pew at the funeral. I distinctly remember looking up and seeing a tear roll down his cheek. That was the first time I remember seeing my dad cry.

I think a lot of people refuse to have emotions or at least show them. When something hard happens they bottle them up inside, until one day they just lose it. I think Morrie is right when he said that we should allow ourselves moments to live in our emotions, but only moments. If we allow ourselves to give into the sadness and despair, just fully live it and recognize it for what it is, we can then move on. When we bottle it up we are just giving it a chance to eat at us slowly.

I am grateful that I saw my dad cry that day. I think that I got my emotions from him. If anyone knows me at all, they know that I cry pretty easily when I feel something. Its almost embarrassing. Every time I go to say goodbye to someone in my family, I always see them look at me to see if I am crying, and I always try to pretend like I am okay but the second my gaze meets their eyes it all comes flooding out--but I live in that moment and then I move on. I recognize my emotions and then I live my life. It is okay to cry and it is okay to feel things. You are not weak if you do. My dad lives his emotions but he does not let them run his life. When he feels touched he lets the tears come and I admire that.