…acts of kindness makes us happy …

​I recently came across an article written by Alex Dixon titled, “Kindness Makes You Happy… And Happiness Makes You Kind.” The article cited two research studies which suggest that once you start doing kind things for other people, you probably won’t want to stop. The reason is that performing acts of kindness makes us happy and the happier we feel, the more likely we are to perform another kind act which, in turn, makes us even happier and so forth. In other words, kind acts on our part create a virtuous cycle that leads to lasting happiness. Given the fact that happiness is generally viewed as a feeling that is fleeting or something that evaporates quickly, this is excellent news. Henry James once said: “Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.” Now we know why this is true.