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September 24, 2008
Come on get happy...by giving to others
ABC News reported early this year in Want to Be Happier? Spend Money on Others that research proves people experience an irrational, unexplainable happiness from giving to others.
A couple of key quotes from the article:
According to a new set of studies, people who spend money on others, either by donating to a charity or buying gifts, are markedly happier than those who do not.
"I kept seeing the conclusion drawn that money can't buy happiness. That was based on the fact that the correlation between income and happiness was pretty low," said Elizabeth Dunn, the lead author of the paper and an assistant professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia. "But just because money doesn't typically buy happiness shouldn't be taken to mean that it can't. How could people use their money more effectively so that it would actually deliver more happiness?"
The research was a combined effort by Harvard Business School and the University of British Columbia. They began with money but note in the article that it's the act of giving that creates the happiness, not the object of the gift. In other words, it doesn't matter if it's time, talent or treasure, giving it away seems to make humans happy.
We tend to approach stewardship as an obligation like washing the car, mowing the grass, personal grooming, etc. There is little pleasure in these mundane tasks. But what if giving ourselves to others through a cause we believe in really did create a sense of pleasure and happiness? If it did, we'd be much more inclined to do so...and more often.
For me it all comes back to the degree to which we feel emotionaly connected. Giving is an outward expression of an inward connection and commitment to a cause or person. When we help other human beings, we are exercising our interpersonal skills. In turn, those interpersonal skills result in an emotional connection.
God designed us to live in relationship with him. If we were created in his image, then wouldn't there be a longing within each of us to connect with other human beings? And if God finds pleasure in a relationship with his creation, then shouldn't we find pleasure through interacting with one another?
And don't we freely give to those we love (i.e. those we feel most emotionally connected to)?
God did.
Somehow I don't think this research surprised him.
Posted by bstroup at September 24, 2008 1:09 AM
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