I was in a meeting recently, when someone said, things are happening that are as real as gravity. My mind, as a psychologist, went immediately to those aspects of our inner reality—namely our thoughts and feelings—that are equally invisible and as real as gravity.
And it struck me that we often treat these two things - the idea of gravity versus our inner experience - very differently. Both are invisible and powerful. But that is where the similarity ends.
Humans have learned, for the most part, to co-exist peacefully with gravity. I’ll bet there are high jumpers, pole vaulters, and freestyle skiers, just to name a few, who occasionally would wish that gravity would just let up already!, but I never, EVER had anyone, athlete or otherwise, come to me for help with dealing with gravity.
Here’s the thing. We so often co-exist far less peacefully with our thoughts and emotions. While gravity is an accepted part of our world, our thoughts are, too often, the enemy. While gravity is allowed, our emotions are so often rejected or avoided. We don’t think about controlling gravity but we engage in any number of hacks to try to control our thinking and emotions.