26 Mar Shifting happiness from selfishness to selflessness – Tip 3
In the first two tips in this series, I’ve tried to highlight the benefits that come from giving in terms of emotional wellbeing and positive relationships.
If these weren’t enough, tip 3 brings us to another, incredibly important benefit which is that which contributes to meaning and purpose.
When we give, we contribute to something greater than ourselves, providing a sense of fulfilment and meaning. Helping others reminds us that our actions have a positive impact.
And this, many believe, is the crucial difference between a hedonic focus and one that’s more eudemonic. The two are not mutually exclusive, by any means. But too many of us focus too much just on hedonic activities and strategies, things like the pursuit of pleasure and “feeling good”, to the exclusion of other approaches to life that look beyond us as individuals and provide something deeper and more meaningful than just positive emotions.
Positive emotions are great, and important; but the deeper sense of fulfilment and meaning we can get from giving (among other things) is arguably much more important, especially over the long term.
And therein lies the key; eudomonia, and the benefits we can gain from giving, require prioritising or seeing the value in longer-term outcomes over shorter-term benefits. It might be “harder” now, but it will feel much better later!