Happiness and Kindness

Parents. Children. Young. Old. Drug addicts. Christians. Impoverished. Rich. What do we all have in common beyond our basic humanity? The need to be happy.

Mirriam Websters on line dictionary defines happy as: enjoying or characterized by well-being and contentment. Sounds nice doesn't it? I know a secret that can lead to happiness. Now you may ask, What secret is that? It's a well-known secret, in fact. Perform a random act of kindness per day.

There is a field of psychology that is relatively new. Researched and conceived of mostly by University of Pennsylvania Professor and Psychologist Martin Seligman, Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. According to University of Pennsylvania's website, positive psychology has three central concerns: positive emotions, positive individual traits, and positive institutions. Understanding positive emotion entails the study of contentment with the past, happiness in the present, and hope for the future. Understanding positive individual traits consists of the study of the strengths and virtues, such as the capacity for love and work, courage, compassion, resilience, creativity, curiosity, integrity, self-knowledge, moderation, self-control, and wisdom. Understanding positive institutions entails the study of meaning and purpose as well as the strengths that foster better communities, such as justice, responsibility, civility, parenting, nurturance, work ethic, leadership, teamwork, purpose, and tolerance.

Positive psychology focuses on strengths as well as weaknesses, on building the best things in life as well as repairing the worst. It asserts that human goodness and excellence is just as authentic as distress and disorder, that life entails more than the undoing of problems. All these things can be summed up in one concept: giving can equal a meaningful life, i.e. happiness.

But you are probably wondering how. Well lets examine the research, shall we? A 1996 study revealed that wealth is only weakly related to happiness both within and across nations, particularly when income is above the poverty level. So money and possessions do not equate to happiness. In 2000, a different study showed that activities that make people happy in small doses - such as shopping, good food and making money - do not lead to fulfillment in the long term, indicating that these have quickly diminishing returns.

However, on the other hand, we also know that people who witness others perform good deeds experience an emotion called 'elevation' and this motivates them to perform their own good deeds. A researcher by the name of Emmons found in 2000 that people who express gratitude on a regular basis have better physical health, optimism, progress toward goals, well-being, and help others more and that "Making a contribution to the lives of other people may help to extend our own lives," says Stephanie Brown, a psychologist at the Institute for Social Research. Living longer is good, right?

This is why I make it a point to try to do something nice every day. A random act of kindness. Sometimes I pay for a random item out of someone's cart behind me. Sometimes I tip much larger than I need to. Sometimes I just smile at someone who looks like they really need it. A random act of kindness is an act that receives just as much as it gives. You'll be happier. They'll be happier. And you'll live longer. So, please, commit a random act of kindness each day.