The Anatomy of Grief

So I got thinking today!
About gravity!
About grief!

Apparently, the universe is made of space-time fabric. This ‘fabric’ is knit out of the three dimensional space and the fourth dimension, time. So, space and time are like threads interwoven to create this beautiful tapestry – our universe.

Now imagine this tapestry, spread out real tight. It is stretched. Now, drop a bowling ball right in the middle. See what happens? Assuming the tapestry didn’t rip, the fabric is bent. It is curved under the weight of the bowling ball. And by laws of common sense, it isn’t difficult to arrive at the conclusion that the greater the mass, the more pronounced the curve. Now try this. Drop smaller balls onto the tapestry. See how they roll towards the bowling ball because of the curve? And that is gravity – smaller mass travelling around the surface bent by and thereby towards a larger mass. The theory is simple - matter bends space.

So why am I talking about physics?
Think of reality as a continuum – a tapestry.
And emotions as objects with mass. Happiness would be equivalent to a balloon. As an emotion, happiness often leaves us feeling like we are floating on air. It is light – with negligible mass.
Grief on the other hand is like a bowling ball. It sits heavily on your mind and weighs you down. It is weighty – with staggering mass.
Hence, it comes as no huge surprise that while happiness flits in and out of your life without really changing you, grief is different. It bends the very fabric of your reality. It distorts you to such extends that you change in ways you never imagined.
Ever heard of black holes? It is a point in space with such incredible pull that nothing escapes its gravity well – not even light. And isn’t that how you feel when you are depressed? Like a hole has ripped open inside of you. It sucks the light out of you and leaves you in the dark.

Gravity is arguably the most important force in the universe. It holds everything in place.
My argument today is that grief is no different. We don’t want it. We deny it. We reject it. But of the spectrum of emotions that we experience, grief is arguably the most powerful. Maybe, it doesn’t hold us in place like gravity. But it does pull us apart piece by piece. And then, forces us to pick up those pieces and put ourselves back together.

So grieve.

It’s ok!