Happiness

Consider the simple quantum mechanical problem of a particle trapped within a box. The walls have infinite potential, which prevents tunneling. Now the ground state of solution (for the wave-function of the particle) is a simple sine function.

Psi(x)=sqrt(2/L)*sin(n*pi*x/L); where Psi is the wave-function of the particle, L is the length of the one-dimensional box and various values of n gives various solutions.

The energy of the particle is proportional to n².

In a slightly similar line, if one imagines that our minds too are like a particle in a box. The wave-function represents the state of mind and n is the anxiety_level. The length of the box represents how 'broad minded' we are. One may argue that their box does not have an infinite potential hence their minds can tunnel the barriers i.e. think outside the box. But, for simplicity lets just say that such people have large boxes. So the state of mind or the state of happiness/sadness can be thought of as a simple sine function. But, a sine function of what? The only variable common to all human beings is time. So the state of happiness is a sine function in time. The amplitude of this sine function can be simply viewed as the expectations one has from life (represented as < life > ). Using these arguments, the state of mind can be written as:

Happiness (time) = < life >  * sin(anxiety_level*time)

This can simply be interpreted as:

1) Happiness is a well behaved periodic function in time.

2) Greater is the expectations in life or more the anxiety in one's life; greater are the emotional oscillations between happiness and sadness.

3) Energy/stress on one's mind increases with increasing anxiety_level or expectations in life.

4) Happiness itself cannot be measured directly, but the probability of a state of happiness can be measured.

5) The ground state everyone wants to asymptotically reach (a state of pure happiness) is only possible when one is 'broad minded' with low anxiety_level and has minimal expectations from life.