29 Oct 2014 Want To Be Happier – Take This Challenge
Today is my day off. My daughters and I met my husband for lunch in Newark where he works. On our way back to the car, we saw a woman who was sick at the curb-side.
Initial response: “yuck, sick, gross, is she drunk, move away, look away”. Second response: “I’ve been there before. The nausea of early pregnancy. That terrible feeling you get. I can’t imagine being alone and vomiting in front of all of these strangers”. I stopped and offered her a tissue which she gratefully accepted.
The Science
Many studies report multiple health benefits of kindness including increased lifespan and decrease pain perception. I experienced one of these benefits: a boost in dopamine which gave me a little “helper’s high”.
One study related to this “helper’s high” reports that doing 5 small acts of kindness one day a week for six weeks boosts the overall feeling of well-being. And it turns out, the actions have an additive effect. As study coauthor Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., a psychology professor at the University of California, says: “Each action has a cumulative effect. The more nice things you do, the more people will respond positively toward you, and the better you’ll feel.”
Our Recommendation
Take the challenge: do five nice things for people around you, whether strangers, family, or friends.
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