Studies say that giving gifts increases happiness! Let's face it, many of us were raised with the idea that giving is better than receiving.
"The act of giving a targeted gift improves your happiness," says Michael Norton, a psychologist who teaches at Harvard Business School. In an experiment carried out by a group of researchers involving about 700 randomly selected participants, the mission was to buy a gift for themselves and an unknown person.
After the experiment was over, participants said they felt happier about the gifts they bought for strangers than for themselves. Giving gifts to others led to a significant boost in happiness, while spending on oneself produced no response.
How to act with gifts, to experience all possible happiness?
- You can give gifts not only for holidays, birthdays or certain occasions, but also in situations when you simply remember a person in a certain period of the year.
-Remember that you don't have to spend a lot to make someone happy! It is enough to wrap the gift with a beautiful, colorful and shiny paper and surely the eyes of the person who receives it will remain there for a long time.
-Instead of material gifts, try giving someone a ticket to visit a park, a show or a museum.
-If you are bored with the routine, remind yourself that this is an opportunity to show love, gratitude and generosity to the most important people in your life. Try gifting them a travel ticket!
-When people are given something, they are more likely to give it back. Reciprocity is the foundation of good relationships, and when we surround ourselves with generous people, we tend to feel the same. But whenever you give something, don't necessarily expect to get something in return.
Source: NPR
