Emotional Truth Has Little To Do With Actual Events

Novels and movies would not work if our emotional reality were not separate from our sense of what is real or fiction. We may know that we're looking at black marks on white paper but yet feel frightened or excited based on what we read. The reality - we are siting alone, safe at home - has nothing to do with what is vividly real based on our emotions. 

I was reminded of that this week when dealing with someone who had turned a possibility into a vivid inevitability. This person's emotional state was no different than if this event were really happening. In the world of actual events, it was a remote possibility. 

It's worth remembering when our minds latch onto certain possibilities, when we consider what might happen. We can let the pleasant feeling of a daydream substitute for the the actual event, a fantasy become a substitute for reality, fear or hope becoming proof. 

I think one of the harder things in life is sustaining emotional tension, the sort of unresolved feeling that leads you to action for sustained periods of time. It's much easier to lapse into hopelessness or daydreams than grind it out over long periods of time.