Sad Heart
Making sense of unexplainable sadness
Neither he (6) nor his parents knew why he would suddenly get emotional, cry and feel deep sadness. This happened regularly.
I find cases like this highly interesting. When there is no obvious cause and no reason for behavior. That means the answer lies deep inside a child. And it requires detective work to find it.
Eyes closed, I asked him what his sadness looked like.
“My whole heart is just one giant tear.”
We spent a long time in there together. Finding things. Moving things. The session was intense — and at moments genuinely moving.
Towards the end of our session I asked him again, what his heart looks like now.
This is what he drew:
Notice that he left some sadness at the bottom of the heart.
When I asked if he wanted to remove that too, he shook his head.
So we left it.
Not every child is ready to let everything go in one session. And that’s not a failure — it’s information. He knew something I didn’t yet know. He knew he wasn’t ready.
Over time I’ve learned when to push and when to ease up.
This was a moment to ease up.
He’ll get there.
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