Simple Physics in Life

If you’ve ever taken a physics class in high school or college, you might agree or disagree with the title of this blog.  However, you’ve more than likely been introduced to Newton’s First Law of Motion, commonly referred to as The Law of Inertia.  In its most basic form, it states an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force, and an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force.  (I figured I’d save you the pain of reading about constant velocity by not quoting the actual law, or dredging up any more bad memories of physics classes that you might have.)  The point is that even though were are more complex than the simple objects that Sir Isaac Newton’s Law was created for, our lives mimic this law. 

Have you ever just had a really bad day where nothing seems to be going right, and it seems never ending?  Then all of a sudden something good happens, it makes you smile, and then it seems as if more and more good things seem to happen to bring you out of your dark state.  This is exactly how our lives can play out according to this law of physics.  That outside force of positivity acting on you, changed your emotional direction into a positive one when it seemed as if you were headed down a negative road.  The same thing happens when we are in a really great mood and something bad happens or it “acts” upon us and brings us down.

This is where we as humans are more special than a regular old object that sits in our surroundings.  We can be responsible for creating forces that bring us out of our own difficult situations.  While the same is true that we can also be responsible for creating forces that send us into bad situations when we’re already headed into a happy direction.

In addition to this, we are also responsible for being either a positive influential force on the lives of others or a negative one through the way that we treat other people, and the decisions we make.  Take for example a supervisor that is always berating employees, or not valuing their work ethic, and the effort they put forward.  The supervisor is limited in their view of the employee and sees the product produced, but they never appreciate the sweat equity that goes into the end result or recognizes it with appreciation.  This type of supervisor is someone who, while great at achieving the bottom line, might be creating a negative force bringing stress upon their employees and creating an unhappy, unhealthy work place.  I’m sure we all can think of different people in our lives in various situations who are negative forces, and those who are positive ones based on their actions and the things that they do.

As stated however, as humans we are more complex than objects so we do not only have to rely on extrinsic forces influencing our daily lives, we can create intrinsic ones for ourselves, as well as consciously be responsible for forces that affect those around us.  If you have found yourself volunteering your time to support others, or you have been someone that listens to that close friend who needs you at a difficult time, these are examples of creating positive forces to influence the lives of others.  If you’ve ever put in the effort to achieve one of your goals that seemed unattainable, or you’ve overcome a difficulty through perseverance and determination these are examples of creating intrinsic forces that are acting upon you to move you in a positive direction.  Even the power of positive thinking can be a force that affects how we move through our daily lives, and affects the decisions we make for ourselves.

There is acknowledgment that there are some extrinsic forces that we can’t control such as weather, government decisions, personal health issues, etc.   However we have the ability once acted upon by those forces to create our own intrinsic ones to take action to keep us moving in a positive direction no matter how bleak the future might seem, or insurmountable the obstacle that we face.  Also extremely important is having the awareness of the influence that we are having on those around us and the types of forces that we are creating on their lives.  Ultimately through positive thinking, awareness of our actions and of our decision making, we can create more positive forces and in fact move ourselves and others in a more positive direction.