Boost your happiness by doing random acts of kindness for your spouse (DW#476)
Research that was done about a year ago and published in the journal Emotion, shows that doing something nice for your spouse can boost your emotional well-being —even if he or she isn’t aware of your good deed.
The researchers found that couples benefitted the most when their acts of kindness were recognized and acknowledged by their spouse (which highlights the role of appreciation in relationships).
However, what they also found surprisingly was that the doersof the acts of kindness reported emotional boosts even when their actions weren’t consciously noticed. In these cases, emotional benefits for the giver were about 45% greater than the benefits for the recipient of the kindness.
The study concluded that giving to others or doing nice things for them because you expect your behavior to be reciprocated is not the key to happiness.
"It’s giving to others for the sake of giving to others that’s important," they said. "As soon as you couch it with, ‘I’m going to be compassionate today because I expect you to be compassionate tomorrow,’ it destroys the effect."
Join our blog!
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.
Don't worry, your information will not be shared.