Kindness And Kindness Make You Happier And Healthier

Leo Tolstoy wrote about the need to “love your neighbor, love your enemies, love everything.” A scientific study that has spanned decades confirms that when we are kind and kind to others, we gain happiness and health.

Kindness and kindness are essential virtues for building positive personal relationships that could be extended as a network to build a cooperative society, based on trust and mutual help.

The advantages of being spontaneously good and kind

They seem only very beautiful words, but without contact with a reality where ideals such as individualism and competitiveness prevail. However, science confirms that selfless and caring behavior works best.

The researchers analyzed the results of 126 quality articles with 200,000 participants from all over the world, who answered surveys on the relationship between kind behavior and happiness or performed kindness practices, the effects of which were observed by the scientists.

These studies measured well-being in a variety of ways, including physical and mental health. According to the results, kind people tended to experience greater well-being. But lead researcher Dr. Bryant Hui, a professor at the University of Hong Kong, wanted to know what specific types of behavior were associated with greater happiness.

They found that people who performed spontaneous and informal acts of kindness, such as bringing a meal to a grieving friend, tended to be happier than people who performed more formal and organized acts of kindness, such as volunteering at a soup kitchen.

The authors of the research suggest that informal, non-institutionalized help satisfies our most basic psychological needs for autonomy and close relationships, thus leading to greater happiness.

Kindness gives life meaning and purpose

The researchers also found that people who were kind tended more to enjoy “eudaimonic happiness,” which is related to the meaning and purpose of life, than “hedonic happiness,” which is related to immediate pleasure and comfort. In fact, sometimes being nice is hard work, takes time, and isn’t always the most comfortable attitude, but it does make people feel better about themselves.

Being kind was also curiously more “eudaimonic happiness” for women than for men. According to Hui, this could be because, in many cultures, women are expected to be kinder than men and feel rewarded.

Likewise, the younger participants experienced more happiness when they were kind than the older participants. The explanation for this difference is that young people are developing their identity and are actively seeking a purpose and meaning for their lives that goodness can bring.

Being kind has even more advantages. The researchers found that kind people tended to have higher self-esteem and a sense of self-efficacy. To a lesser degree, they also experienced less depression and anxiety, and their self-perception of physical health improved, especially in older people.

Reduce stress and connect us with others

The study cites the theories of Columbia University researcher Elizabeth Midlarsky on the benefits of kindness. Midlasrsky adds to the study’s findings that the practice of kindness takes iron out of our own personal problems and stressors, and connects us socially with others. In this way, kindness reduces anxiety, improves mood, and favors the benefits of being part of a community.

Bryant Hui sees the research findings as summed up in a phrase he heard the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso say: “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. “

“Helping others is a universal virtue and a very affordable and inexpensive way to improve our own well-being and benefit all people,” Hui says. “As the saying goes, helping others is helping yourself,” he concludes.

Scientific references:

• Bryant et al. Rewards of kindness? A meta-analysis of the link between prosociality and well-being. Psychological Bulletin.
• Midlarsky, E. (1991). Helping as coping. In MS Clark (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology, Vol. 12. Prosocial behavior (p. 238–264). Sage Publications, Inc.

Bibliography:

• Tenzin Gyatso and Howard C. Cutler. The art of happiness. Kailas Editorial.