Good Life Tips: Fun & Philanthropy

Posted by Jerry Lopper Jan 23, 2007

The new and growing field of positive psychology offers much good advice with loads of tips to help your pursuit of happiness and the good life.

Good Life Tip:

Research studies show that an orientation to the welfare of others is, in the long run, more satisfying than an orientation to one's own pleasure.

You can experience this for yourself with the following: In the next week, undertake one pleasurable activity for yourself and one philanthropic activity that will benefit another person.

A pleasurable activity is anything that you regard as fun for yourself without being harmful or harmful to others, while a philanthropic activity is something that you do for another that is difficult for the person you're helping.

Spend about the same amount of time on each activity during the week and at the end of the week jot down your reactions and feelings as a result of each activity.

Source: A Primer in Positive Psychology, Christopher Peterson.