How does making others happy affect your happiness?
Why is it essential for us to feel happy? Why is happiness such a primary emotion and goal in our lives? Happiness is associated with many aspects of our lives. Our happiness is subjective because it can be connected to a person, an object, a hobby, or an act.
No one is entirely or pleased with a single element. Why do we crave it so much? Being happy has many scientific, psychological, physical, and spiritual benefits. Most people would say that their happiness is derived from worldly things like having money or a bigger house and a better job.
Others would say that doing kind deeds, being compassionate to others, and simply seeing them happy bring joy in their lives.
Putting other people’s needs and happiness before yours in a non-toxic way helps you strengthen relationships with others. Since humans are social animals, they need that connection and feel positively influenced by their interaction with other people.
Since it affects what other people think about us or makes us feel, receiving value and appreciation for making them feel happy has a joy of its own. There is a deep-seated and fundamental desire for people to feel loved, emotionally balanced, and comfortable.
One way to feel satisfied through social interactions is to contribute to other people’s happiness. How can you do that? Well, start with those deprived of the necessities of life.
You can volunteer for community service, donate to reputable charities, or offer someone a present.
You can go the extra mile and send a planned gift to The American Civil Liberties Union, a renowned charitable organization fighting for civil liberties and social injustice. Through such organizations, you can give those suffering from racial injustice and lack of fundamental civil rights an opportunity to live a safe life.
Knowing that your efforts indirectly made someone’s life easier and secure will bring tons of positivity and happiness to your life. Research led by a team of sociologists tracked two thousand Americans over five years and found that those who volunteered at least 6 hours per month described themselves as very happy.
It indicates that people experience a sense of reward and happiness when giving back to individuals or society.
Psychological benefits of helping others
Giving back to the community is an essential aspect of finding meaning in life and many people associate their happiness with that purpose. One of the best ways to make others happy is by giving them what they want or need.
Feeling compassionate gives you a higher sense of purpose, and it is often a trait that helps us find true happiness. For instance, how do you feel walking down the street and seeing a child shivering on a chilly day?
When you compare that child to the one standing next to you holding your hand in a cozy jacket, you don’t feel so good. You feel sad, helpless, and unsatisfied with the situation.
Therefore, you tend to find that satisfaction, and you do that by being kind and compassionate to others. So, when you hand that child a warm blanket or help them find shelter, you feel triumphant and content.
According to brain-imaging research, your brain’s pleasure centers activate the same way it lights up when you eat a sugary dessert when you do acts of charity, such as helping others.
The sudden feeling of pleasure is the reason why you feel happy when you see others happy. Let’s take a look at what more psychological effects giving to others have on our happiness:
1. Decreases stress and anxiety
People forget about their pain when they see someone else is in more trouble than they are. Helping those financially, emotionally, and more socially challenged allows us to shift our focus from our problems to theirs.
This shift of focus is beneficial for people who tend to overthink or usually feel stressed. When you physically and emotionally focus on volunteering to help others, you feel energized, and your mood improves, ultimately leading to lower stress levels.
You can tackle your worries with renewed vigor when you’re occupied with solving someone else’s problems. Seeing others smile because of you sparks a sense of value and worthiness for yourself, which is helpful against anxiety and depression.
2. Helps build social connections
You can make your friends and family happy by fulfilling their wishes, appreciating them, and making them feel loved. It brings immense joy to see those you love happy. However, another form of happiness that profoundly impacts your life comes by making those you don’t know happy.
You make the world a better place by stealing those timeless smiles from less privileged people and empowering yourself. By making people in your community happy, you build stronger relations and better connections which will ultimately help you combat loneliness and isolation.
In recent Covid times, we learned the hard way that how isolation and no social contact can have highly adverse effects on a person’s mind. By helping others to feel happy, you are improving your mental well-being and social anxiety.
3. Improves your physical health
Even though it is not a psychological effect, improved physical health is a significant aspect of achieving happiness by helping others. According to research, there was a whopping 40% decrease in hypertension among older participants who volunteered for at least 200 hours every year.
Opportunities for social interaction led to a reduction in stress levels as well as loneliness. Making others happy has a profound effect on your overall health, improving brain activity, reducing the risk of heart diseases, and lessens symptoms of chronic pain.
According to a brief from Corporation for National Community Service, people who volunteer at least 100 hours each year are 33% less likely to report health issues than those who don’t. It proves that making others happy by volunteering to help them has immense physical and psychological benefits other than just feeling happy.
Conclusion
Happiness for every person on this planet has a different meaning. But a type of happiness whose meaning and value is above all is the happiness gained by making others happy. Many scientific studies prove that helping others and volunteering for the community offers better mental and physical health.
Seeing others smile because of you provides you a sense of higher purpose and deeper meaning of life. When you think about others beyond yourself, you discover that it is easier to find peace and satisfaction in those little acts of compassion than in worldly things.
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