WHY GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE: The Exciting New Research that Proves the Link Between Doing Good and Living a Longer, Healthier and Happier Life

When I first began reading this book, I have to admit I rolled my cynical eyes just a bit. The author, a bioethicist, seemed to have all the right credentials such as a PhD from the University of Chicago, professorships at some of America’s leading medical schools, a best-selling book designated a “medical classic for this century”, and elected membership in a number of special medical societies.  But he was also the founding director of something called the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love … and that sounded a little hokey.

Some 270 pages later and scores of rigorous scientific studies demonstrating the importance of love – or more accurately, giving, which is how the author defines the act of loving -- and I was utterly convinced otherwise. The bottom line of all these studies: giving makes us healthier and happier, as well as inspires courage and contentment. As Post notes, “if giving weren’t free, pharmaceutical companies would herald the discovery of a stupendous new drug called “Give Back” – instead of Prozac – and run TV ads about love.” One doctor, working in a large HMO in California, actually followed through on this suggestion, and created a system wide program where patients receive a volunteerism “prescription” from their physicians. 

Supporting this initiative are studies such as: A UC Berkeley 5 year study of 2000 people over 55; those who volunteered for two or more organizations had an impressive 44% lower likelihood of dying. A pretty impressive reduction in mortality when you consider other factors such as exercise 4X a week (30%) scored lower. Only quitting smoking had a higher correlation to reducing mortality. Or a University of Michigan study of older adults where those who provided no assistance to others – financial, emotional, educational – were twice as likely to die in a 5-year period of time compared to those who did provide such assistance.

In addition to postulating why giving is so beneficial to our health – it provides a ‘helper’s high’, it pushes aside brooding, negative emotions that induce stress related diseases, it increases one’s sense of control and counter-acts low self-esteem – Post also provides an array of ways one can participate in this miraculous drug. Systematically, he notes there are 4 domains in which one is able to give: Family, Friends, Community and Humanity. He then offers 10 categories of love/giving for each domain: Celebration; Generativity (to help people help themselves, as in “teaching a man to fish so he can eat for a lifetime”); Forgiveness; Courage (sometimes we have to confront evil to produce the necessary kindness others deserve); Humor (a good joke can sometimes lift a person out of pain when no other way of love is effective); Respect (which comes from the Latin respectare – which means “to look again” – and thus suggests we must look again and again, deeply and past our natural biases; when we do so, and provide respect to others, tolerance, civility and acceptance follows, all of which are appreciated by others); Compassion (the giving that expresses love’s response to suffering); Loyalty (this is giving love through time); Listening (the need to be heard and understood is universal, and fulfilling this need for another is a wonderful gift); and Creativity (spontaneous joyful expressions, from the creativity of the cosmos to the genius of a Beethoven, Einstein, Michelangelo, or Edison, enhance others to significant degrees). 

So that’s 40 different ways to give – 4 domains and 10 categories in each domain – and thus benefit from this scientifically proven medical benefit.

Let me conclude with a brief exploration of but one of the above categories, Celebration. Just as defines giving as love in action, he understands celebration an manifestation – and implementation – of a feeling of gratitude. When we feel grateful, we express joy, and this joy not only benefits us but others as well. Consider organ transplantation, for example. The more gratitude a recipient of an organ feels, the faster that person’s recovery. But that’s not it. The more gratitude a person feels, the more likely a person is also willing to donate an organ to another person in the first place! So, when we celebrate life, which is an expression of the gratitude one feels for the gift of life, we are more likely to have the courage and willingness to share that gift, despite significant risks, with others.

If given the choice to be a giver or a recipient, which would you prefer? If your answer is the former, why do sometimes complain when asked to give to others?  

***

Did you enjoy this content? Would you like to receive ALL BOOKED UP directly to your e-mail? If so, SIGN UP HERE.

Read other posts in ALL BOOKED UP here.

Buy my new book, The Day the Devil Went on Trial here.