09 Aug Happiness Challenge (No 4) – practising selfless selfishness!
I’ve been following an interesting discussion lately on one of the positive psychology and happiness internet communities of which I’m apart which in short, has focused on the issue of and benefits associated with…selflessness.
I’m fascinated by this because recently I started talking about, in my coaching, consulting and teachings, a new happiness construct I’ve come to call “selfless selfishness”!
The idea is that by being selfless, and by caring for others, we can achieve our own ultimate happiness and wellbeing goals which in a way, means we’re being selfish! But they’re not, or they don’t need to be mutually exclusive terms which unfortunately they too often are. But I like to think of them as compatible and complimentary concepts which means that by looking after ourselves we’ll be more likely to look after others and by caring for others we can care for ourselves.
Happiness, then, is both in us and in others.
So this week’s happiness challenge is…
…to spend at least one hour each day (not necessarily in one chunk) thinking about others, caring for others, doing kind and considerate things to and for others. In short, the happiness challenge is to spend an hour a day boosting the happiness of others and then see if your own happiness is, as I suspect it will be, improved!
Let me know how you go…