Dear Rose # 65 - Processing Awe: Finding the Beauty in Sudden Tears and Deep Sensitivity

Rose is an amalgam of us - women in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond who are looking for somewhere they are seen, heard and listened to.

Dear Rose,

You probably know by now that I’m a crier, but it’s not always sad things that make me cry.

Before I self-identified as a crier, I was unexpectedly moved to tears by a performance of “After the Rain” by the Australian Ballet. I remember  feeling almost outside myself and thinking, Wow, that was unexpected.

I was also unexpectedly moved to tears by Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles at the National Gallery of Australia. I wouldn’t have said I liked abstract expressionist paintings, but there you go.

And I’ll never forget the emotion I felt when I saw the Sagrada Família for the first time, rising majestically from a distance, framed by what seemed like any old street—if you can refer to the streets of Barcelona as "any old street."

Tonight, I was moved to tears again by the world premiere of Six Noongar Seasons, a Baroque performance of music and poems by Indigenous artists about the Menang Noongar land I live on.

I used to think those sudden tears were a glitch. Now I realise it's just how my heart processes awe. It all makes sense.

Love, Em xx