Stop fighting what already is. Accepting a hard reality, without approving of it, ends the extra layer of pain.

If a movement keeps cutting a feeling short, work with the movement rather than the feeling. Stay with the dabbing of the eyes itself, slowly, and see what turns up.

Tell yourself the true thing: this feeling is real, and it is temporary. No state lasts. Ride it out.

Sometimes the thing that stops your tears is an order somebody gave you decades ago, and you are the one carrying it out now. One woman found her father's words sitting behind a habit of wiping her face dry the moment she cried.