Article: Learning how to make your eyes red and teary on command for the purpose of "fake crying" can be seriously challenging — even professional actors often struggle with it. Though there's no "right" way to do this, certain psychological tricks can be a major help. One useful strategy is to focus on memories and ideas that make you sad, like a close relative who has passed away, a humiliating event you experienced, or a major worry or fear in your life. As unpleasant as it may feel to experience them, the more dark and depressing your thoughts, the more they can help you get into a crying mindset.  Just a few more examples of things you might want to think about are: romantic breakups,  recent arguments, troubles at work, times when friends or family betrayed you, people that have drifted out of your life, and times when you've been very fearful for yourself or someone close to you. It can be especially helpful to try to convince yourself that all the people you know "have their lives together" except for you. Try to evoke feelings of hopefulness and despair — think to yourself, "This is it — I'll never be successful and happy." However, be sure not to let yourself wallow in this mindset after you need to fake being sad. The last thing you want to do is to make yourself genuinely depressed. In the words of one New York University acting teacher, an actor trying to fake cry should “particularize the moment or text with something specific and personal to the performer, so that it becomes less about what is demanded of them and more about an inner secret, desire, fear.” In other words, the best way to get yourself sad enough to cry is to lose yourself in thoughts about your deepest, darkest inner fears and demons. Try to mentally convince yourself that the task you need to fake cry for is all about you being judged as a person even if it's not. Be prepared to dig up and confront your worst personal demons. One critically acclaimed actor, Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad fame, has revealed in interviews how his most intense inner fears have helped him give a convincing performance of someone in a tortured mindset. Speaking of a scene in which his character witnesses the death of a younger female actor's character, Cranston said: "My real daughter's face took her place, so it just hits me ... She's just a girl — she could be my daughter." Red, teary eyes aren't always the result of sadness. Sometimes, these symptoms are brought about by intense feelings of rage or frustration, especially when they're caused by someone close to you. If you're having a hard time crying from purely sad thoughts, try mixing in a healthy dose of anger to get results. For instance, you may want to try to think about a current difficulty in your life that's very frustrating to you, like a relative with self-destructive behavior who won't listen to your advice. Just a few more examples of things you may want to think about are: times when you've been "passed over" for an award or promotion, times when your enemies have succeeded over you, times when you've been treated unfairly by someone with power over you, and times when you've witnessed or experienced social injustices. The motivation to tear up doesn't have to come 100% from within — sometimes, using outside sources can be a huge help. This is a strategy that's often used by actors both to get in the proper mindset for an emotional scene and to help assume the appearance of someone who's experiencing these intense emotions. Movies, books, songs, and other forms of art that inspire deep sadness or frustration can be very effective here — below are just a few ideas to get you started, but there are many, many more.  Movies: The Notebook, The Green Mile, The Fault In Our Stars, Titanic, Dumbo, Up, Come and See (Russian film) Books: 'The Kite Runner, The Giver, Wuthering Heights, The Idiot, any of the later Harry Potter installments, any books that the movies above are based on. Songs: Yesterday (Beatles), The Needle and the Damage Done (Neil Young), Brenda's Got a Baby (Tupac Shakur), Bad Religion (Frank Ocean), virtually any Elliott Smith song. It's important to remember that the strategies in this section may be even harder to get to work than the other tricks in this article, even if you're someone who easily cries when sad. It can be very difficult to make yourself feel sad enough to cry, just like it's difficult to tickle yourself. Even A-list actors often have a hard time "willing" themselves to cry, so be ready and willing to use another method if these psychological strategies don't work for you.

What is a summary?
Put yourself in a sad or depressed mindset. Focus on personal pain. Make yourself angry or frustrated. Use moving media to help you. Keep your expectations in check.