Blocking tears

[Dark Angel]

Did you know that focussing your eyes up towards the ceiling blocks tear ducts and stops you from crying? I've been told this and tried it at a Memorial mass recently and it really worked.

What other ways are there to stop tears?

[CiderMonkey]

I tend to cry a lot and when i am somewhere where I'd rather not cry (like when I left my office to stand in the street at 12 today and saw the streets filled and silent and traffic stopped - i work in London, near Liverpool Street), i clench my teeth and blink a lot. It worked today, I didn't cry in front of my colleagues, but sometimes there's just too many tears and I have to let them go. I don't mind people seeing me cry but my face goes all blothcy and puffy, so i'd rather not!

[Englishbird]

This is probably not very healthy, but in those times where you just can't stop crying, and it's boring as hell, I've been known to keep a 6" nail in my pocket and push it into my thumb.  Obviously I don't make myself bleed! but it does hurt and somehow it focuses the attention away from crying for a while.  This is starting to sound a bit like self-harming, which i'm not advocating!!

[MargeB]

My friend has 'lacromylia': he can't produce tears. He's had it for 8 years, and I've recently become a 'tear donor'. About once a month, I go into a small cubicle, and someone reads me a sad story, and they collect my tears in a small cup, for my friend.

I just like to think I'm bringing a little sadness into people's lives.

[Scarlett]

Marge- what happens to your donated tears? How do they get into your friend?

[dmsjps]

Dark Angel, I didn't know it was a fact for everyone, but I know it has worked in the past for me at sad times like that. Sometimes though, when it's really personal, nothing can stop the flow and you have to let the tears come, otherwise you'll never get over it, like when I lost my mum. It's 8 years ago and it still sneaks up on me when I'm not ready for it. Then again, some things are replaceable, but your mum and your children can never be replaced.

[billearly]

Surely tears are a natural thing don't ever hold back emotion of any kind ,it is not shameful to cry for any reason .And cidermonkey I only watched London on the television it had me in tears a perfectly natural thing .

[judypark]

I wonder if this was why, Diana, in her saddest moments, was captured looking upwards? Judy