When Are Tears Good?

     My grandson’s tears provided some relief after his cousin pinched him. To experience even greater relief from pain, experts suggest we read a story about someone else’s suffering. They say emotional stories not only help us heal, they can change our brains for the better for days.     
     Book critic Kristin Lamb says that when we “vicariously experience our hurts, failures, disappointments, betrayals through another set of eyes, it’s a way of facing our villains in life.”     
     Besides that, researchers at Emory University in Atlanta discovered that a novel can cause positive brain changes that last for days.     
     I don’t recommend any book to achieve this brain-and-emotion cleanse. Some stories are so dark they only validate the brokenness in real life. I look for stories in which the main characters grow through adversity, books that give me hope and humor along life’s highway.      
     Recently as I’ve sprawled in bed from the pain of a broken foot, I’ve vicariously vanquished evil in a fallen kingdom, sailed to the end of the Earth, and cheered as a mouldering relationship sparked into life again. As Lamb says, these stories have shown me “it is possible to come through the fire not only healed, but stronger and better.”     
​     So grab a good read. Together we can experience a catharsis as we let our feelings flow and our pain go.     
     Because healing tears are good.