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Why Giving Makes You Happy

Submitted by Bren Clayton, Dec 29, 2007 16:20

"You don't do good because you'll go to heaven if you do and hell if you don't. Doing good is its own reward" - heard that from Bradshaw, the tv co-dependency guru. I have spent most of my adult life volunteering and the common refrain that I've heard over the years at all the annual banquets from anyone being honored - "I receive much more than I give". Now that I'm retired I'm able to take care of someone with ALS 3 days a week. People say "Oh, you're a saint". My reply is "Yes, I'm a saint. I give up three days of skiing." However, I'm beginning to see that my body couldn't take much more skiing than I get in. The question that I often ask myself is why do I get such pleasure from volunteering. Is it just an evolutionary trait as the militant atheists would have you believe? I hope not. I've always hoped that the "What you do for the least of my bretheren..." applied. Even if it turns out that there is nothing after we die, now at least I can feel I've already been rewarded.

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Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
Great article. Speaking of giving, heck why not. www.onebuckfortheplanet.org/081 Please join my ripple. cheers. [MORE]	curt	Feb 11, 2008 14:01
This short atricle leads one (if one is willing to be lead) that giving leads to happiness. Could it not... [MORE]	Carl C	Feb 4, 2008 20:43
I tend to agree with Carl C., "Happy people are the ones that tend to give". We're happy people, confident... [MORE]	Shirley Bass	May 15, 2008 15:20
Various surveys of happiness have shown that Mexicans, for all of their problems, are among the happiest people on earth.... [MORE]	Ken Emmond	Jan 2, 2008 21:16
>>43% of the American adults who gave blood two to three times during the year said they were very happy... [MORE]	ariel	Jan 2, 2008 12:25
One of our featured books at www.parentcaresolution.com and at www.americanpetcross.com is a book called The Gratitude Principle by Dan Sullivan... [MORE]	Daniel Taylor	Dec 31, 2007 20:12
Thanking God or a person for a kind gesture, gift of time or wisdom, I always feel better. Being thankful... [MORE]	Kay	Dec 31, 2007 10:19
My own experience vouches for the truth of the major claims of this article. Giving blesses those who give as... [MORE]	Shalom Freedman	Dec 30, 2007 07:38
"You don't do good because you'll go to heaven if you do and hell if you don't. Doing good is...	Bren Clayton	Dec 29, 2007 16:20
It is better to give than to receive. It is better not to boast about it - people might doubt... [MORE]	Karen Ways	Dec 29, 2007 11:55
It's a very nice article and o food for thought at same time, people tend to give more when they... [MORE]	josag	Dec 29, 2007 10:41
Nineteenth century scholars will be happy to get some recent data to back up Dickens, not that he has ever... [MORE]	George J. Leonard	Dec 29, 2007 03:58
Give a gift of a good leader in 2008 please ,I want to give myself to San Francisco .Not 'Homeland... [MORE]	dave	Dec 31, 2007 09:04
Any kind of giving, love, creative work,help,increasement,of joy is always boost your moral, increase your self easteem, your responsibility.you work... [MORE]	Ramesh Raghuvanshi	Dec 29, 2007 02:07
His research will help our careers immensely. Oh yeah, his going to be one of my professors at Maxwell. [MORE]	Tony	Dec 28, 2007 18:39

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