week 3 post 2

        Giving to others has become a very recurrent indicator of more meaningful and happy lifestyles. Many people in western society feel that if they reward themselves with something that they will feel a higher level of satisfaction when research indicates a much different outcome. Many people view happiness as a very hedonistic and materialistic transaction; however, it is found that giving to other people stimulates more positive feelings than if one were to spend money on themselves. For example, one study shows that when individuals were given money which they spent on themselves, they were far less happy a few days later than their counterparts who spent money on someone else. Furthermore, people who spent the money with another person were happier because they were also able to build a social connection along the way. Another study shows that when babies can share something such as treats with a toy monkey, their minds show much higher positive reaction than if they were to keep the treats to themselves. This very much so plays into the idea that humans are naturally compassionate and so following through with acts of kindness and care is very beneficial and mentally stimulating. Giving is also crucial to making social connections, but only if it is willing. It is essential for people to feel they have to choice to give rather than having to give. This creates a much better circuit among people because when they are given a choice to give, they are far more likely to give again. This is important on a very individual level but also because it snowballs in its effects on society. Compassion and kindness significantly increase the wellbeing of a community because when people can work together to understand each other's issues and help nourish the depravations that exist within that community and the world, the people in that community show much higher signs of happiness and unity, something society lacks today. This greater sense of giving leads to greater kindness, which in turn leads to greater compassion, which then leads to the human feeling of elevation, where people feel considerably warm and uplifted. This emotion makes people more willing to try and be a better person.
This is why it is vital to engage in compassionate actions and emotions because it is not only a great benefit to one's happiness but also a great benefit to the world around them. Having this type of mindset is what creates heroes and great acts of sacrifice which change and shape the world significantly. Heroism is centered around a persons commitment to noble actions and the ability to accept the danger and consequences which may follow it, sometimes including death or the loss of a job. Western society is so significantly impacted by a lack of compassion, or maybe not a lack of compassion but more so the inability to tap into it; this is substantially related to how busy and self-centered people feel they have to be to keep up with the hustle of the world. Great compassion leads to altruism which ultimately leads to heroism, a necessary and extremely Nobel part of society. It comes with great harm but it also comes with great benefit. Hero's don't have some distinct gene that is known so far, many of them are ordinary people, but one thing they all have in common is their exceptional ability to have compassion. They are able to remove themselves from a very self-centered point of view and commit acts that few could dare to attempt. It is essential to be able to tap into this compassionate side because without the ability to tap into compassion, for some people what stimulates hostile imagination, stimulates heroic imagination which results in extreme heroic deeds which change many people's lives for the better, in a ripple effect. Very few people can conjure the ability to be heroic, just like very few people are wired to be evil, but the importance of it is that not everyone can be evil, but everyone can be a hero. It can be as simple as speaking up when something is wrong because very few people are able to do something as uncomfortable as that. In today's society, this is very important because with extreme mental disorders comes the need for extreme sacrifices, whether that be a civil or violent issue. The simple ability to act kind towards other people can be life-changing. If one person does something nice, that person is more willing to do something nice, and it becomes a domino effect of kindness and altruism, which are critical parts of human nature.