Why Giving Matters

Perhaps you have been wondering why I post so many things related to service and volunteerism on the Cache Valley Financial Wellness Project blog.  

Arthur C. Brooks explained it well when he said this: 

"It turns out that the data on happiness and charitable giving are beyond dispute. People who give to charity are 43 percent more likely than people who don’t give to say they’re very happy people. People who give blood are twice as likely to say they’re very happy people as people who don’t give blood. People who volunteer are happier. The list goes on. You simply can’t find any kind of service that won’t make you happier.

"Laboratory experiments using human subjects find that when people are asked to give to other people, it elevates their mood. Furthermore, if you increase your level of charitable giving, you can permanently alter your level of what psychologists call positive effect—which is to say, being in a good mood. You can be a happier person that way. It’s the secret, basically. The real question is not whether that’s true; the question is why that’s true.

"There’s a very interesting set of studies that tell us why it is that giving will make you into a happy person. The first has to do with how it changes your brain. I’m going to explain that in a minute. The second is what it does to how other people treat you. Let me explain. The first is that the wiring of our brains is conducive to charitable giving, and it works something like this. In the late 1980s there was a famous study of charitable giving that looked at how people reacted with respect to the endorphins that they experienced. Endorphins are neurochemicals that make you feel a sort of euphoria. If you like to run marathons, it’s probably because afterward you feel really good—you feel sort of high in a way. Psychologists came forth with studies that showed that when people volunteer to help other people, they get what they call “the helper’s high.” Volunteering actually gives people a mild sense of euphoria."

So . . . don't be surprised when you see a lot of posts about service opportunities in general mixed in with the financial information, tips and trainings available. Giving back is an important part of your journey to financial peace!

You can see the full text of Mr. Brooks speech at the links below.

Text and Audio:  https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/arthur-c-brooks_giving-matters-2/


Video:  http://www.byutv.org/watch/f478258a-1b80-43c7-8d35-eeaebb47d510/byu-forum-address-arthur-c-brooks-22409