GiVE Compassion – Three Compelling Reasons to GiVE Compassion

Throughout this month, we’ll send you some thoughts, conversation starters, and activities you can do with your children, students, your teams, or even your families at home around four ways we can all GiVE Compassion to others.

What does the word compassion mean to you?

I’m sure you have someone in your life, an experience from your past, or perhaps even something in your life which always makes you think of the word, compassion.

Compassion simply means recognizing when other people may need some help.

Whether it’s physically, mentally, or emotionally, compassion is, of course, all about going out of our own way to help others.  

Did you know?

When we GiVE compassion, we help other people!  

• When we help others, they feel better about themselves and better about their life.  *. 
• When we help others, we feel great too!  
• When we let others know we care about them, showing them compassion, it’s good for our own mental and physical health; not to mention, it helps the other person’s mental health (attitude) and physical health as well.

What does the science say?

GiVING Compassion Makes us Happy — Neuroscientists, Jordan Grafman from the National Institute of Health, showed that the “pleasure centers” in the brain – i.e. – parts of the brain that are active when we experience pleasure like when we eat dessert or receive large sums of money are equally active when we observe someone GiVING money to charity or helping other people as when we receive money ourselves. 

Giving Compassion Makes us Healthy – Helping others leads to experiencing fulfillment and a life of longevity, health, and happiness.  University of Michigan researcher, Stefanie Brown, in a study of over 400 elderly people, found that those who helped others were happier, healthier, and lived longer than others. 

GiVING Compassion Makes us Productive and Pulls us Out of Our Funk – Research shows that depression and anxiety are linked to a focus on one’s self.  When we do things for others, the self-focus dissolves, and we’re instantly uplifted, feeling much better about life.

If you’re wondering why the “i” is lowercase, here you go:

• To truly “GiVE” anything is to put other people first, ahead of ourselves.

• GiVING is all about the other person or other people we are helping, encouraging, or serving with our words or actions.

• The “i” is lowercase to simply remind us to take the focus off of ourselves and instead, pour ourselves into others.

Throughout the rest of this month, we’ll talk about four ways we can GiVE Compassion to others – our friends, our classmates, our teachers, school staff, and our families at home.  

“We can’t heal the world today, but we can begin with a voice of compassion, a heart of love, and an act of kindness.”

~ Russell Simmons, American entrepreneur, record executive, writer, and film producer

Have a great day, and never stop GiVING the best of yourself and looking for the best in others.

Taylor

PS – Learn how to stay open to new experiences, develop and live your own personal leadership brand, and inspire others with a culture of storytelling and by creating memorable workplace experiences. Learn more about our Learning Experience, Becoming Inspired to Inspire, here.