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| From Drive. |
Sonja Lyubomirsky and her team studied this in 2004. She had a group of test subjects put quarters into strangers' parking meters. By measuring the test subjects' happiness levels before and after the quartering (and comparing them to those of a control group, of course), she found that performing kind acts really does make people happier. Some call it a "giver's high." It works even if the recipient of the kind act isn't aware that you did anything (or that you even exist)!
Interestingly, Sonja's tests show that the best way to perform kind acts is to do a bunch of them all in a single day, instead of spreading them out over a week. The reason may be that pushing yourself to do one act every day becomes too routine, while doing around five all at once is more spontaneous, which keeps things fresh and makes you more likely to be kind in the future.
So give kindness a try. It can be as simple as putting quarters in a stranger's parking meter!
(For more details on this experiment and many others, check out Sonja's book, The How of Happiness.)
Hi Derek, I'm back in the hometown and slowly getting back into the swing of things here and with everything... Harsh to be back into reality haha :)
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I agree and especially with the following - "The reason may be that pushing yourself to do one act every day becomes too routine, while doing around five all at once is more spontaneous, which keeps things fresh and makes you more likely to be kind in the future". Spontanity definately contributes to better mood, I believe it's because in a way it makes you feel like you're doing something that is out of the norm or even out of what's allowed and thus make syour herat beat fastaer, raises your adrenalin and dopamine levels etc. In fact, even typing this and thinking of it made me feel different! After my blog experience, I now try random acts of thankfulness where I would thank random people for random things... Something they don't expect, and it gives me just this kind of a rush, even long after it happened because I still remember the feeling when I think of this thank I gave!
Yes, coming back from a trip can often produce an interesting mixture of feelings. We're glad to have you back, though! Also, I think variety is important in all human experience. For instance, even taking a different route home from work can increase happiness! That tidbit also comes from Sonja Lyubomirsky (and no, I DON'T have a marketing deal with her, I promise!)
ReplyDeleteHaha, okay, I believe you!! True about variety. Personally, I figured what works for me - I need a very certain "strict" morning routine that sorts of helps me wake up and diciplines me for a day, but my day should definately have an element of spontanity to it, otherwise I might get bored and sad. So I'd say it's very important to find the kind of balance that works for each of us individually!
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