Doing good deeds and helping others can fill you with many positive emotions. When you make a positive impact on someone else’s life, you often feel uplifted, fulfilled, and proud of yourself. Some common feelings people report after doing good include:
Happiness and Joy
Bringing happiness to others is one of the best ways to feel happy yourself. Acts of kindness, generosity and compassion release feel-good chemicals like oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine in your brain. These chemicals boost your mood and give you a deep sense of satisfaction and well-being. Making someone smile or helping them in a time of need can fill you with infectious joy.
Sense of Purpose
Helping others also gives you a sense of meaning and purpose in life. Humans have an innate desire to feel needed and make a difference. When you positively impact someone, you feel you have fulfilled one of your core purposes – to be there for others and lift them up. This provides a profound feeling of significance and value.
Self-Esteem
Doing the right thing builds your self-confidence and self-esteem. It reaffirms your identity as a good, moral person. Standing up for someone or giving your time to a cause you believe in makes you feel proud of the person you are. Your values and integrity feel reinforced when you act on them to help others.
Gratitude
Seeing someone positively affected by your actions also fills you with gratitude. The fact that you were able to be there for someone in their time of need is very rewarding. You feel thankful that you got to make a real difference in their life. Their gratitude towards you is humbling and fills you with inspiration to keep giving.
Inspiration
Doing good works is contagious. When you volunteer, help a stranger or stand up for someone, it inspires others to follow suit. Every act of kindness sets off a ripple effect of more giving. Seeing others pay it forward after you’ve helped them motivates you to keep making a positive difference. You feel inspired to do even more good.
Sense of Community
Helping brings people together and forges community bonds. When you support others, you build connections and relationships. People feel valued and cared for. This fosters a spirit of belonging, unity and togetherness. You feel gratified to do your part in strengthening your community.
Inner Peace
Being there for others helps free you from everyday anxieties and gives you an immense sense of inner calm. Helping takes you out of your ordinary concerns and brings meaning to each moment. Making a positive impact provides a mental clarity from worries and greater perspective on what really matters.
Energy
Helping others can be deeply energizing and infuse you with a sense of renewal. When you give of yourself, you often feel uplifted and revitalized. Seeing someone empowered by your support motivates you to summon even more compassion and dedication. Doing good fills you with positivity and momentum.
Satisfaction
The satisfaction from helping others can be profound and long lasting. When you make a real difference for someone, you carry that feeling of fulfillment with you. Knowing you were able to be there and contribute when it mattered provides lasting contentment. You feel richer for having given.
Hope
Each act of doing good is an expression of faith in humanity. You believe human beings can lift each other up and make the world a little brighter. Even a small kindness can restore someone’s trust in the goodness of people. Fueling this hope and optimism provides deep fulfillment and lightness of spirit.
Gratitude and Appreciation
The appreciation and gratitude you receive from those you help can be tremendously uplifting. People remembering and thanking you for making a difference in their lives boosts your spirits and reaffirms your sense of purpose. Their recognition makes you feel appreciated.
Love
Doing good unveils the innate love people have for each other. Acts of compassion uncover our shared humanity. In helping others, unconditional love is often exchanged. The goodwill and care you receive from those you help can expand your heart and spirit in ways you never expected.
Generosity
Giving what you can without expectation fosters your own generosity. It feels natural to share more once you’ve seen how much impact small acts can have. When you open yourself up to helping others, you want to give more. Generosity and charity become their own reward.
Protection
Standing up and supporting those who need it makes the world safer for them and everyone. Every act of solidarity chips away at injustice and intolerance. You feel emboldened and less alone knowing you’ve helped shield or empower someone vulnerable. Choose compassion over fear.
Growth
Helping others creates meaning that helps you grow as a person. Touching people’s lives pushes you to deepen your understanding of others’ struggles. When you make a difference, you gain new skills and strength to keep making an impact. Doing good nurtures empathy and wisdom.
Healing
Being there for others can be healing for both the giver and receiver. Helping someone through pain, loss or fear restores hope and emotional resiliency. The connection created through a compassionate act has the power to heal trauma and heartache. Uplifting others uplifts yourself.
Fulfillment
Making a positive change in someone’s world is deeply fulfilling. Knowing you made a situation better by caring, listening, or being present feeds your soul. No act of doing good is too small to appreciate. Follow your heart to provide support and the fulfillment will fill your spirit.
Conclusion
Doing good things for others creates ripples of positivity that lift up individuals, communities and the world. Even a smile, kind word or simple favor can make someone’s day when given mindfully. Helping from the heart fills you with a sense of joy, connection and purpose. Compassion shared freely ignites hope. Be the change you wish to see.