Caring About Crying: Contents Page.

We All Cry. You’re Not Alone.

Background:

The Carer Mentor Collaboration Premise and Background.

These four articles sparked the ‘Jerry Maguire’ invitation to collaborate.

1. Don't Be Sad, He Said. Putting the Cancer Grief into a Box by KRISTINA ADAMS WALDORF, MD  at After He Said Cancer

2. Good News! I Cry Pretty Now Progress. . . I Guess By ANNE at The Future Widow

3. Memorial Planning as a Way to Avoid Grief Processing. I'm not actually recommending it. By ANNA DE LA CRUZ at GenXandwich

4. Sacred Tears How to be with others as they cry By CHRISTINE VAUGHAN DAVIES at Journeying Alongside

September Anthology Index:

The Caring About Crying Anthology. We All Cry. You’re Not Alone.

1. Sept 1 Launch article: Caring About Crying. We All Cry. You’re Not Alone By Victoria at Carer Mentor: Empathy and Inspiration

2. Sept 2 Crying: 'Did you know?' Resource: Tears the science and some art. By Victoria at Carer Mentor: Empathy and Inspiration

3. Sept 3 'Cry, Baby. Why Our Tears Matter' A Podcast Interview. Dan Harris and Dr Bianca Harris of Ten Percent Happier with Reverend Benjamin Perry. By Victoria at Carer Mentor: Empathy and Inspiration

4. Sept 4 ‘In Conversation with Rev. Benjamin Perry’. Victoria interviews the Author of 'Cry Baby: Why Our Tears Matter' By Victoria at Carer Mentor: Empathy and Inspiration

5. Sept 5 ‘My stoic mom's parting gift. Making peace with tears’ By

   Sarah Coomber
   at
   Sandwich Season

6. Sept 6 We Invite You to 'Care About Crying'. By Victoria on behalf of the team.

7. Sept 6 ‘ICU Special Edition: There's Crying in Baseball?’ By

   Nurse Kristin
   at HCT: Heal Cure Treat

8. Sept 7 Triggered. Caring About Crying Anthology By

   Kristina Adams Waldorf, MD
   at
   After He Said Cancer
   and
   Anne
   at The Future Widow

9. Sept 8 'Can't Cry. Want to Cry??' A Caregiver's Paradox of Human-ing. By Victoria at Carer Mentor: Empathy and Inspiration

10. Sept 9 AWC Town Bulletin - On Crying A Discussion Thread

    Tiffany Chu
    bakhtawar

11. Sept 10 The Healing Power of Tears. How giving myself the permission to cry a good cry helped me process unspeakable pain and lifted me out of deep depression. By Louisa Wah at Lily Pond

12. Sept 11 My Tears are not a Grief Gauge. Crying through Ages and Stages By

    Anna De La Cruz
    at Gen Xandwich.

Articles shared by readers/authors in the invitation

• "Constructive Wallowing: How to Beat Bad Feelings by Letting Yourself Have Them" by Tina Gilbertson

• Bylsma L.M., Gracanin A., Vingerhoets A. The neurobiology of human crying. Clin. Auton. Res. 2019;29:63–73. doi: 10.1007/s10286-018-0526-y. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

• Taylor Coffman (Rare Disease Girl), thanks for sharing the video. Happy tears, and capturing your 'Happy Ever After Moments' (Sept 8)

  ‘After everything you've been through makes so much sense, and is a great tip for caregivers as well. When I was caring for my Dad, I used to 'memory capture' the moment - use all my senses to imprint the memory. This is how I found 'piercing joy' in the darkest moments’. - Victoria

• Neha Dhami wrote this beautiful poem Empathic Echoes: Reflections of the Soul (Sept 7) Tale #16: Reflections of Empathy that explores 'the deep resonance of human connection and the powerful echoes of our shared experiences.'

• Dr. Vicki Connop shared this article 'The antidote to depression may not be what you think. Reflections from both sides of the therapy room.' (Feb 25, 2024)

  The most powerful antidote to depression may not be what you’ve been led to believe. My decades of working through my own pain, and sitting alongside other people as they navigate theirs, have taught me that we’re often looking for it in the wrong places. It’s not joy, or gratitude or positivity. It’s not exercise or eating well – though these things can undoubtedly be helpful.

  The most powerful antidote I’ve found to depression is to fully feel your sadness. Or rage. Or shame.

  Does that sound paradoxical?

• Louisa shared this article by Susan Frybort. IT'S OKAY TO CRY...It's Okay Not To Cry (Feb 16, 2024). The reflections resonate and match those shared by Reverend Benjamin Perry in our conversation.

  It's okay to cry. It’s okay not to cry. It’s alright to take your time and wait for the primary emotion to surface and allow the immediate response to hold the space.

  Whatever is coming up for you in the moment works or whatever slowly makes its way out after awhile is valid, too. Because emotional responses can be raw, mixed, complex or have their own method of being known.