# Friction 

By [jer979](https://paragraph.com/@jer979-2) · 2025-11-11

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Friction releases heat. Energy is expended in the form of heat.

Easy to see in a physical reaction.

Less easy to notice in an emotional reaction.

Someone says something or does something and I feel the resistance building within.

I feel the face get tense, the eyebrows furl, the shoulders tighten.

A ball of energy starts bouncing inside me, increasing in speed like a bubble boiling in a pot.

That’s not a law of nature.

A rock being pushed across a floor will always create some amount of friction.

An interaction with another person or an event does not have to.

In the in-between moments, like a mechanic servicing a car, I seek to apply emotional lubrication.

It’s not about “not feeling.”

It’s about creating the channels for the energy of the reaction to flow with the appropriate power and strength.

It’s about experiencing life’s wonder it its fullest capacity, but not so strongly that it bursts through the retaining walls and floods the area, leading to disaster.

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*Originally published on [jer979](https://paragraph.com/@jer979-2/friction)*