Give and Be Happy

Giving away your money, even $5.00, makes you happier. So says a new study I posted in our Shares. Giving away makes people happier than a boost in income, a high income, or buying things for themselves. Although, the study says, we don't seem to realize this, because we spend more on ourselves than on others.

(Except the very poor, I read recently in another study. The most poor among us donate by far the largest percentage of their income, compared to everyone else. The most weathly, I am sad to say, give away the least percentage of their income. I believe that's because the more wealth you have, the more you become focused on how to keep that wealth, which can become a real full time pre-occupation. But that's just a thought.)

So join Bill Clinton's GIVING web site; or Oprah's BIG GIVE, or what's happening at your Church or social service organization or Defenders of Wildlife or the March of Dimes or next time you are in line at the grocery store and someone is digging around for that nine cents, give it to them. That homeless person..does it HURT you to give him $5.00? Is it your business to shun him because you have decided he'll spend it in a way you don't like? Do you know a majority of the homeless are children? An increasing number are women and mom's? A huge number are war veterans. Another bunch are mentally ill and need medications. So give them $5.00. Hand them an apple. Do something.

Create a neighborhood block party. Make your own community of giving. There's an assignment in TOOLS to go volunteer. Are we doing that? If we do, it will make us happy! I'd like to hear about what you do when you volunteer, and how it goes.  Because hearing about the good people do makes ME happy.

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Tags: giving, donations, gifts, Volunteer, happiness, homeless, veterans, tools, Tools To Life