After doing matam or crying for Ahlul Bayt do you guys feel depressed or feel like being watched? Do the gem stones you wear help you in anyway?
Salaam alaykum wa rahmatullah,
As a non-Shi'i who has attended quite a few lectures (and the matam thereafter without any participation), allow me to add my two cents.
Being around all the crying and chest-slapping, I reflect on my life (all my past deeds and where I need to be). Those who cry around me, on the other hand, can (afterwards) sit down and eat a "blessed" meal which I find hard to come to terms with. After all that wailing and chest-beating, how can anyone eat? The last thing I would do, when I'm crying or depressed, is eat. So perhaps they do not feel depressed. Perhaps they feel freed from carrying a burden; crying can certainly help with that.
As for being watched, they always dim the lights so as to give everyone a chance at some privacy.
Although I could not attend any of the lectures this year (ending my 6 years of attendance streak), I have never felt unwanted. In fact last year, there were a few Sunnis (including myself) who attended the lectures so diligently that the sheikh/imam delivering the talk opened one of his lectures on a particular night by highlighting the fact that it is incumbent, according to Sunnis, to follow in the footsteps of Ahlul Bayt (ra). Being an Afghan (like myself), the sheikh recalled how at every Friday prayer in Kabul, he would hear the surrounding Sunni mosques speak highly of the merits of Ahlul Bayt (ra) and announce them openly and explicitly on loudspeakers.
I had mixed reactions; I appreciated him taking the time and effort to clear that up while also being annoyed that such a misconception (that Sunnis do not care about Ahlul Bayt) is prevalent amongst Shias.