Buoyancy

Buoyancy is by definition a dual term: the relation between a thing and the medium in which it is contained. But we like to abstract it, to treat it like a singular and absolute quality. So, if I think of somebody's "emotional buoyancy" I tend is to forget that such resiliance depends precisely as much on the emotional environment as the person concerned. And, of course, some people live in emotional equivalent of the Dead Sea.