"Empathy does lead to increased helping, it does so not because of pure altruism but because thinking of another person's pain makes us sad, and one way to make ourselves feel better is to be helpful. Another possibility is that taking another person's perspective actually causes us to feel some overlap between ourselves and that other person, and so we help them the way we would help ourselves."
This week I decided to take a break from driving my roommates crazy and tried to serve. I cleaned. I did the dishes as often as I could, I vacuumed the house, I swept the floor, I baked goodies (Yes, I tried to fatten them up;)
I tried to be as giving as possible. I wanted to see how the mood changed in the home, and how I felt differently. I know what it's like to be a college student, stressed, working, and having too much on your plate. I know that when things around the house are taken care of, it makes things a lot less stressful. According to APA, I believe that I wanted to do this because I was able to see the other person's perspective and help them the way that I would want to be helped.
I noticed the mood uplifted and vibes around the house were much more positive and uplifting. I also noticed an increase in love towards those that I live with. (Which I desperately needed... for reasons I will not disclose).
Some things that I learned about this experience:
- "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God." This is true!
- Service makes my own problems seem less important
- Being kind improves relationships with those whom the kindness is extended towards
- I believe that you can have pure motives in giving service
http://www.apa.org/monitor/dec06/helping.aspx
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