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One of the best ways to increase our own happiness is to do things that make other people happy. In countless studies, kindness and generosity have been linked to greater life satisfaction, stronger relationships, and better mental and physical health – generous people even live longer.
What’s more, the happiness people derive from giving to others creates a positive feedback loop: the positive feelings inspire further generosity – which, in turn, fuels greater happiness. And research suggests that kindness is truly contagious: those who witness and benefit from others’ acts of kindness are more likely to be kind themselves; a single act of kindness spreads through social networks by three degrees of separation; from person to person; to person to person.
