Sadness and sorrow
![A person in religious attire stands on a cobblestone street, while another person walks past carrying a bag in a black and white photo.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/ce264130-de1b-4f64-923c-bfecafd6b195/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Difficult emotions
idea
The ‘melancholic joy’ of living in our brutal, beautiful world
Beyond simple contentment or despair, there’s a ‘melancholic joy’ in looking, clear-eyed, at our brutal, beautiful world
by Brian Treanor
![Abstract painting featuring interwoven, tangled figures surrounded by dark, swirling shapes and lines, evoking chaos and entanglement.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/6e801a07-9deb-476a-9b4f-a9469b398583/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Sadness and sorrow
idea
When emotions rot, they compost and transform into something new
A self that fractures through loss or grief marks a psychological shift, beginning a cycle of regrowth through decomposition
by Kelsey Day
![Shattered glass fragments scattered on a grey surface with a blurred background. Some pieces are mid-air, capturing the moment of a glass object crashing and breaking. The image portrays motion and impact.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/1aee7ed4-e453-437e-bf2a-85ac3aad8a3c/rt-final-gettyimages-820481530.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Grief
idea
Grief is not a process with five stages. It is shattered glass
The five stages describe a grief that’s knowable and controlled. An accident in my kitchen helped me find a truer metaphor
by Joshua Thomas
![Composite image showing a burning tower with smoke billowing out and a reflection of two people looking at it.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/40e23640-64ce-4a98-a643-a878290f2b9e/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Emotions
idea
What it means for something to ‘sink in’ emotionally
The impact of important events is more than an emotion or mood – it must ‘sink in’, which is a process that unfolds in time
by Matthew Ratcliffe