This post is dedicated to all who are in pain, feeling alone, broken-hearted, and/or grieving–or have been. In other words this is dedicated to everyone.

Part of being alive is experiencing pain. For many people, pain can lead to tears, and for some, tears pile shame onto their pain.

I believe that tears can be a sign and source of strength, of connectness, of being able to truly feel when so much of the world does all they can to get and stay numb.

Tears are a way of ackowledging I can STILL feel. I can feel my pain. I can feel yours. I haven’t given up on myself, on you, or on the world. I’m strong enough to hang in there despite the pain and the desire to numb it.

The tears are here to not only help heal but to enlighten–to literally lighten our load and illuminate a life lesson that must be learned so growth can occur. To help us to become wiser and stronger. And in the process to gain the courage to forgive and to show kindness and have empathy not only to friends, nor just to strangers, but to all who may have wronged or harmed us.

If tears are from pain today, they are a gift. Embracing them can lead to healing and help us to grow stronger. While it may or may not feel like it at the time, I believe that every tear is a step away from pain and toward the possibiities of greater joy in our lives.

And I know that some day more tears will come–for you and for me–for life offers many detours and obstacles from which we may learn and grow. But if we are patient, and if we continue to work on making ourselves the kind of people we so badly want to become, life will someday provide us with a very different kind of tears–tears of joy. And those are worth every step, and every painful tear, that brought us to a more joyous life.

Until that day, please know that there are many in the world–most who have never even yet had the opportunity to meet you–who wish good things for you, who have gone through what you are going through–or something very similar–who would give a loving hug to you if given the chance, and would be proud to call you their friend.

I am one of them.