Habitually Happy people are amazingly altruistic. They rarely pass up a chance to be kind when it costs them little or risks them little.
Practicing Continual Kindness Is A Way To Be Happy.
They are also very adept at protecting themselves, pursuing and achieving their goals. They are not “people pleasers,” they do good because it makes them feel good.
It’s an example of the First Law of Happy Thought:
Our Focus Determines Our Feelings.
When We Focus Our Time, Attention and Energy On Doing Good We Feel Good. More importantly…
We can’t expect others to treat us well if we don’t extend the same care, concern and compassion we want from them to them.
I recently heard a noted economist speak on the subject of giving at a church stewardship dinner. He relayed recent studies linking charitable giving to happiness, but missed a few key points:
Altruism Is Attractive – We tend to like and trust altruistic people because we believe they place goodness, right action and the welfare of others on an equal plane with their own concerns.
It’s hard to like or trust selfish people who don’t show integrity.
Make Goodness A Guiding Goal – Doing good makes us feel good. Giving appropriately makes us feel good because we know we are contributing to worthwhile causes. And the flip side is…
When we don’t feel good about our actions, we can’t truly enjoy the rewards those actions bring. Try the Gold Fish Test – if the world knew the details of your actions, how would you and they feel? Worry isn’t worth it, secrets cause stress.
Love Not Logic Prompts Giving – People need clear, compelling visions of the benefits their gifts provide and a love for the cause in order to support them enthusiastically.
It’s a twist on the old sales adage, “Logic makes people think, emotions make them act.” Build benefits and love before asking for expanded contributions.
There’s an important difference between really wanting to do something and feeling we must, ought or have to do it.
Love Propels Happiness And Giving – Demonstrate how to feel good, proud and joyful about giving. Drive giving with desire.
Acquire The Qualities You Admire In Others – Seek good role models and visions of excellence which help to define the steps to achieve them.
Truly happy, successful people are usually very kind, caring, honest, charitable and compassionate.
Look Like and Live Like the Leaders You Admire. You’ll find they usually give very generously.
Action, Activity and Achievement Are Keys To Happiness. Doing Good Makes Us Feel Good.
Explore HappinessHabit.com for more happiness insights.
Copyright © 2007, Michele Moore. All Rights Reserved. This material may NOT be published, broadcast, distributed or rewritten without permission from the authors.
