On Doing Something Nice for Someone Else

A friend recently recommended an article called “17 Ways to be More Positive” and one of the early tips on that list that caught my eye, was to do something nice for someone else.

The author was pinning the reason for that on some supposed research or evidence that the good feelings we get from doing something nice for someone else last even longer than the good feelings we get from doing something for ourselves.

I think the author may have missed an important component of this, which is that the other person gets good feelings about this, as well, and if that is true, they may be more likely to in turn do something nice for someone in their lives, and this, you’ve probably heard of, is paying it forward, or a virtuous cycle. It is good to know that when we do something good for someone else, it not only makes us feel better, but it makes them feel better, too, and that that can cascade throughout many other lives.