5 Laws Of Physics That Surprisingly Boost Happiness, According To Research
Even with strong mental health, negative thoughts can pop up.
Jan Kopriva | Unsplash No matter how tight your mental health and happiness are, you may fall prey to negative thoughts. No matter how upbeat they are, everyone will find themselves in a situation where they need to figure out how to be happy again. I knew that if I wanted lasting happiness in my life — not just a quick buzz from getting drunk with people or endorphins from working out — I'd have to make some fundamental changes to my mindset, lifestyle, and the way I approached life. Through the most difficult situations of my life, I learned how to control my level of happiness, regardless of what was happening around me.
The best thing about studying physics is that it has given me a framework to understand everything about the world. It gave me a new way to see the world, grasp subtle nuances about life, and get more out of my short time on this planet. Connecting the external world and my state of mind improved my mental health, well-being, and satisfaction with life. Physics helped me understand happiness. A 2023 study suggests that a positive perspective enables you to see the positive aspects of things. To have a happy life, you must learn to do what makes you happy. Thinking about the calculus that drives physics has given me a valuable path and perspective for being happy. Here are a few of my favorite analogies from physics and calculus that will increase your life satisfaction and help you figure out what to do when you're having a bad day.
Here are 5 laws of physics that surprisingly boost happiness, according to research:
1. Newton’s second law (F=ma) shows us that change, not position, drives happiness
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An interesting fact about life: we’re better able to suffer lack than loss. This is called "loss aversion." Research shows that negative emotions are felt more intensely than positive emotions. We react more negatively to losing $10 than we positively do to finding $10.
This is why it's easier to be happy in chronic poverty and loneliness than it is if you were once doing well and then lost everything.
On the flip side, few things can make you as happy as a new lover or a bump in income. Your happiness isn’t so much dependent on where you are in life as it is on the change in your position. The change in your life position is responsible for your mood, while the acceleration of this change determines how hard it hits you.
This is F=M*A applied to your emotions.
A slow change, positive or negative, doesn’t generate much force. The sudden death of a romantic partner or winning a massive lottery jackpot will quickly and drastically alter your mind.
How to use this to make your life happy again: Happiness in life is about constantly changing your position for the better. Improving yourself and conquering past challenges is the surest way to increase happiness. No matter how high you get, there’s always another comfort zone to step out of, another area to develop in, or a new group to reach out to. Doing this will make you happy.
2. Integration in calculus reveals gratitude contributes to our happiness
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Individual moments don’t matter much. If I look at any random point in your life, I can’t tell a thing about you or the journey you’ve been on. You could be having an off day in a life full of happiness or a happy day in a life full of sadness.
It’s only by seeing the whole person, over time, that I can gain any sense of how happy a person’s life is and the depth of their experience.
If you take a singular experience, whether in or out of context, you won’t be able to accurately assess the happiness level of your life. A local minimum in your experience is viewed as the absolute and permanent depression. Instead of considering the whole journey and that your position will change, you become fixated on one position. This fixation makes movement impossible. Without movement, there can be no growth. Without growth, there can be no happiness.
How to use this to make your life happy again: I’ve essentially described gratitude. Gratitude is nothing more than the ability to look at the pain in your life and realize that it could be worse.
Even if it truly is the worst position in your life, fixating on it not only prevents you from appreciating the past but also from planning your escape in the future. If you want to be happy again, practice gratitude. Research on temporal focus examines how individuals think about the past, present, and future. While the past influences the present, individuals can make conscious efforts to live in the moment by acknowledging the way their brains pull them toward the future and the past.
3. Differential calculus breaks our big problems into manageable bites
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This point will appear to contradict the last, but I assure you that’s not the case. Rather, this is only a different perspective. Besides, this wouldn’t be a true calculus analogy if you couldn’t undo it and get some useful result that's vital to understanding the whole thing.
Everything can be separated into smaller and smaller moments. In fact, no matter how big a problem is, it can be broken down into infinitesimally smaller parts. These smaller parts, in many instances, are much easier to deal with than the entire issue.
How to use this to make your life happy again: Happiness is found in problem-solving, which means that your life must be focused on solving problems. To be an effective problem solver, break your problems down into the simplest components that you can. Each time you make progress and solve one of the smaller bits, you will experience an increase in happiness.
4. Relativity proves that connections with people make us happier
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Special and general relativity lead us to a few interesting conclusions about the universe. The most relevant two to this discussion are these:
- Nothing exists by itself. There is no such thing as a thing by itself because objects are always defined in terms of their relationship to something else.
- Two different people can objectively observe an event in a completely different way, and because of their speed or position, both can be correct.
These two ideas are powerful ideas that have the capacity to increase your happiness on this planet.
How to use this to make your life happy again, part 1:
First, don’t forget that other people are the most important thing. Your social connections can have a tremendous impact on the quality of your life. Spend time with close friends and loved ones. You are happiest when you’re surrounded by other humans. Furthermore, know that you can never truly be alone.
In our darkest hour, it’s easy to believe that there is no one who understands our plight. This is untrue. Someone’s had it worse. Someone understands. Someone’s made it through and can teach you how to do the same.
Either for instruction or love, you’re never lacking in the universe. You are never alone.
How to use this to make your life happy again, part 2:
The greatest waste of time is arguing with people to change how they feel about something. It’s perfectly reasonable for intelligent people to look at the same facts and have two different reactions to them.
Each moment spent in denial of this is a moment of unnecessary misery you inflict on yourself when you argue irrelevant points. You have less time on this planet than you think. Don't waste it arguing.
Research consistently shows that building and maintaining meaningful relationships significantly boosts well-being. These connections provide a sense of security, stability, and belonging, which helps to reduce feelings of loneliness and increase happiness.
5. Thermodynamics and causality show that forgiveness helps us stay happy
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Physics says that only two things are truly impossible:
- 100% efficiency (perpetual motion)
- Causality reversal (reversing the flow of time)
The first statement means that everything eventually runs out of energy and will need to be recharged or assisted. The second means that you can’t travel backward through time. What’s done is done and can’t be undone.
People hold a grudge because they genuinely believe that it will undo what’s already happened in the past. The universe doesn’t work this way.
All you have is time and forgiveness. When correctly executed, the latter will accelerate the passage of the former.
If you distance yourself from things that make you feel sadness, depression, and other negative emotions, you can eventually get over anything. On the flip side, all positive emotions and good feelings require upkeep to ensure they stay strong and radiant.
How to use this to make your life happy again: Commit to forgiving your enemies, moving forward, and nurturing the current relationships with your friends. Deep relationships or forgiveness need not happen instantly. Committing to an attempt is more important than the accomplishment.
Getting these will take time, but all that matters is that you let go of the past and start living for the future. The rest is up to you.
Ed Latimore is a retired American professional boxer, influencer, and best-selling author. His work focuses on self-improvement and a practical approach to stoic philosophy.
