Forget expensive spa treatments or lengthy health retreats. You can strengthen your emotional well-being by simply being kind to others.
The benefits of helping other people — even through the smallest acts of kindness — are like a wonder drug. It helps people feel happier, improves their energy levels which allows them to perform better at work and experience heightened feelings of wellbeing.
Even a simple act like offering someone your seat on the bus or buying a stranger a coffee, can bring instant positive emotional benefits. Quite simply, when our connections with other people are positive, we feel happier and this brings about physical benefits, which can result in better health and increased energy levels.
This belief is built upon the idea that human beings are social creatures at their core. From a very early age, most of us learn that in order to get by, we need to be considerate of others and conscious of their needs as well as our own, in order to operate successfully in this very social world of ours. When we feel disconnected from our communities, the emotional impact can have dire effects and I believe it is the root cause of many psychological and psychical health issues plaguing our society.
The negative emotional effects of feeling disconnected and lacking meaningful interactions that benefit others, can drain us and make us tired.
While the personal benefits of doing good for others may come as a surprise to some people, spiritual leaders and charity groups have long been championing this school of thought.
In Australia, the Mary MacKillop Foundation has been advocating this theory for decades. Recently, in an effort to encourage Australians to reconnect with others in the community, it launched its ‘Do Good Deeds’ campaign, an initiative which encourages Australians to challenge one another to perform small acts of kindness to help others. In participating in the movement, Australians can raise money for charitable projects, to enable them to meet even more needs.
Some of the deeds committed to so far include teaching dance classes at a centre for kids with an intellectual disability, helping elderly people navigate Centrelink forms and taxation returns, making cappuccinos each day for others in the office, and visiting a nursing home.
In doing these acts of kindness, the participants will quickly discover that you don’t need to start a charity or launch a major community fundraising exercise to experience the benefits of helping someone else. You can help someone in your community in the simplest of ways.
A research team led by psychologist Bethany Kok of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences and Barbara Fredrickson of the University of North Carolina supports the benefits of positive connections.
They released the results of a recent study, revealing that participants who experienced positive connections with other people also experienced increased levels of positive emotions.
“This research shows that we can take the reins of our daily emotions and steer ourselves toward better physical health,” Fredrickson says.
If you’re looking to improve your emotional well-being, before you book in an expensive retreat or begrudge yourself for not working in a not-for-profit organization, take a moment to consider when you last did something to connect with people in your community.
To find out more about the Mary MacKillop Foundation’s Do Good Deeds campaign, please visit the website.