Suppose we are convinced that kindness and responsiveness will improve our society, please others and be useful to ourselves. What opportunities do we have to practice good deeds? Of course, everyone has their own proven ways: to give a gift, arrange a pleasant surprise, call, write, help … You may not have tried other recipes, although they are known for sure: your life will become better as a result.
Spontaneous good deeds
If every week you do a few good deeds, and certainly various ones (send a postcard to old friends, visit a lonely neighbor, give a virtual flower, lend a phone to a stranger, transfer a hundred rubles to sick children)*, this contributes to our feeling of happiness, and sometimes it just heals! Psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky from the University of California (USA) summarized the benefits of good deeds as follows: we become more favorable to others, we feel better in comparison with others, we are freed from guilt for someone else’s misfortune, we feel generous and able to help, we become more attractive to others, we feel that we appreciate**.
* More ideas can be found at www.actsofkindness.org
Meditation
“The more we focus on sending loving and kind thoughts, the more positively we influence the world around us,” says Bhante Wimalaramsi, director of the Missouri Meditation Center (USA), about loving-kindness meditation. “At the same time, the mind becomes more joyful and happy as a result. It’s wonderful!.. People like you. Your face becomes radiant and beautiful, and your mind clear much faster than with other forms of meditation.” Loving-kindness meditation practitioners are more likely to accept themselves and have positive relationships with others. It enhances positive emotions (love, joy, gratitude, hope, pride), restores a person’s long-term life resources and increases his life satisfaction*.
* B. Fredrickson et al. «Open hearts build lives:
Volunteering and charity
Volunteering makes us as happy as doubling our income or getting a college degree*. Giving our time or money makes us feel important, free from any hierarchy, and at the same time care about the well-being of society, say those who themselves actively work in such organizations**. “For many, good deeds make up for the lack of meaning and values,” says psychotherapist Svetlana Krivtsova. “They are attracted by the opportunity to overcome the alienation between people and experience strong positive feelings.”
* A. Luks «The Healing Power of Doing Good». iUniverse, 2001.
Expression of gratitude
There is no surer way to immediately improve subjective well-being, says the founder of positive psychology, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Martin Seligman (Matrin Seligman)*. Expressing gratitude in the form of a phone call or (better) a detailed letter to a person who has meant a lot in our lives allows the person thanking us to feel happier. Especially if you come to the addressee personally and read the letter of thanks aloud.
* M. Seligman et al. «Positive psychology progress, empirical validation of interventions». American Psychologist, 2005, vol. 60, № 5.