It has now been proven that water can hold memory. My connection to the sea reminds me of this every time I get in. I can notice how different sea states not only make me feel, but change how it feels to swim or float in differing conditions.

But what about tears in the body?

Our emotions produce chemical levels in the brain and our body is constantly trying to maintain chemical equilibrium. So if one emotion sky rockets, that chemical becomes flagged and signals the tear duct to open as an exit to release that emotion, packaged neatly within a tear.

It’s why we feel more stable after crying; as if whatever emotion we were feeling has been released and we are refreshed. This is also why tears from different emotions look different under an electron microscope. They’re literally made up of different things.

According to Joseph Stromberg of the Smithsonian’s College of Arts and Sciences, happy tears are structurally different than sad tears, than angry tears, than overwhelmed tears etc. Different types of tears have distinct molecules.

Emotional tears have protein-based hormones including the neurotransmitter leucine enkephalin, which is a natural painkiller that is released when we are stressed.

Crying is the body’s way of dealing with an emotional overflow. Maybe next time you find yourself feeling weepy, or that lovely emotion I call cry-laughing take a moment to appreciate the incredible healing process the body guides us to when it knows we need to allow these emotions to move through us.