Week 3- Science of Happiness Synthesis

 Kindness has generally been associated with positive emotion and identified as a beneficial means of behavior by most of society. Kindness, however, is much more powerful to the self both mentally and physically than it often appears or gets “credit” for. Acts of kindness or the general kind behaviors of an individual are motivated by four key factors: empathy, social status, gratitude, and compassion. Kindness within the self is directly linked to higher levels of self-fulfillment, confidence, life- satisfaction, and happiness. Kindness works hand in hand with compassion. Compassion is defined as “a feeling that arises when one experiences another’s suffering and wants to help relieve the suffering”, and kindness produces benefits including increased social connection and reduced stress. Positive emotions such as kindness and compassion trigger a positive feedback loop in the brain in partnership with associative learning (continued or repeated action after a positive brain response). This brain activity can be traced back to evolutionary roots which explain that positive emotion and action promote the survival of offspring and result in the passing down of positive social traits. These evolutionary and biological understandings communicate that kindness and compassion play a large role in our survival as a species and tell us we really are wired to connect.  

Kindness and compassion play a large role in fostering one’s overall happiness. It is crucial to understand the ways kindness and compassion impact our well-being in the brain and body in order to take charge of one’s life satisfaction. Initiating in acts of kindness and compassion can change one’s entire outlook on life, leaving a place of egocentricity and fostering community foreword thinking that has been proven to benefit happiness. In addition, small acts of kindness and compassion daily have been shown to revitalize one’s outlook on life as a whole and promote general well-being. Knowing the power one has over their happiness is vital to building strategies that foster growth, kindness and compassion happen to benefit surrounding individuals and uplift their happiness as well.