While it may surprise some of the more selfish among us, selflessness and generosity are natural behaviors in humans. Better still, this type of attitude contributes significantly to well-being! Almost 40% of French people have made it their secret to happiness …
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A survey * of France Volunteering recently revealed that there are, in France, 20 million people aged 15 and over (38% of the population) who give free time for others or to contribute to a cause. It shouldn’t surprise us …
Helping others, the secret to happiness?
The studies carried out over the past twenty years have all gone in the same direction: generosity increases the level of satisfaction in life.
Giving activates reward circuits (dopamine, the pleasure hormone) and belonging (oxytocin, the hormone of love) in our brain. Better, this activation occurs in the individual even before he has made the slightest contribution. It’s the intention and the promise of commitment that count.
Experts in positive psychology have found that giving also makes people love life more: people who give, no matter how much, are on average happier than those who don’t. Here is a nice secret of happiness.
In addition, altruism, the fact of bringing to others everything that can be useful to them without expecting anything in return, is highly contagious. We see that 43% of children who have a parent volunteer decide to get involved in their everything.
When it comes from the heart …
Selflessness and generosity are behaviors that contribute directly to happiness. When you help someone in need, it makes a real difference to that person, but it also impacts your own well-being.
Same thing when you make a completely free and disinterested gesture of benevolence. When it comes from the heart, it generates happiness …
“We earn a living with what we receive, but we build our life on what we give. “
Winston Churchill
Giving is not not just a question of money, one can offer time, skill, attention, care, ideas or even arms (elbow grease for a buddy’s move).
It is first of all the intention that counts; small gestures are just as important as big commitments. To feel good, offer well-being to others, do good around you.
3 good ideas to get started
Here are three simple ideas to put this “secret of happiness” into practice today:
- Spend a little more time than usual at chat with someone that you like and listen carefully to what she says to you.
- Look around you and offer to help someone who feels lonely or who needs comfort.
- Find out about theCharity association that you always dreamed of helping without taking action (at least until now).
What BA (good deed) do you want to do today?
Generosity and altruism are sources of happiness that encourage social bonds with others and increase satisfaction in life.
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* L’evolution of voluntary associations in France, from 2010 to 2019 by France-Bénévolat
