Smile at a stranger, bring a treat to a co-worker or let someone else go in front of you in a line. As it turns out, these random acts of kindness could make you a happier person.
A few years ago, Stanford University psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky asked students to carry out five weekly random acts of kindness. Her results? The students reported higher levels of happiness than a control group, with those who did all five acts of kindness in one day per week reaping the biggest rewards by the end of the six weeks.
Another researcher, Barbara Fredrickson, discovered that if you count the number of times you’re kind in a day, you get happier. She’s also demonstrated that kindness and other positive emotions actually help us reduce the stress response and recover from the negative emotions—anger, worry, fear, pessimism.
This week is Random acts of kindness week, organized by the Random acts of kindness foundation, which works with schools and communities to spread kindness. Nearly twenty years ago, Conari Press publishedRandom Acts of Kindness, and launched a simple movement: people being kind to one another in their daily lives.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Random Acts of Kindness, the publisher compiled Random Acts of Kindness Then and Now, which includes the original book along with new material sourced from Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. You can read one of the stories from this book here below, and The Intelligent Optimist gives away three copies of this book to our readers.
To have a chance to win, send an e-mail to editor [at] theoptimist.com before Wednesday February 20th with “random acts of kindness” as the subject, and be sure to include your full name and address. We will notify the winners later next week.
His Tools Were His Livelihood
My father was watching the news of the devastation in the New York area from his home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He was particularly saddened by the story of a Staten Island man who had his tools stolen during some looting that took place at his home. It turns out the man knew the two people who committed the crime.
These tools were all the man had to do his work and provide income for his family. Now his home was destroyed and he had nothing.
My father looked up the man’s name on the Internet, found who he hoped was him, and sent him a check to do with whatever he pleased. He’s hoping it will be enough to buy a new set of tools.
I was particularly gladdened by my father’s action, though it came as no surprise to me. (By the way, my father did not tell me of this, my mother did—and asked me not to tell anyone.)
Excerpted from Random Acts of Kindness, Then and Now, Conari Press
Photo credit: flickr.com/david-trattnig
