Helper's High
We've all heard about runner's high, but have you heard of helper's high?
That's right, there is a real chemical response in our bodies and minds during the act of giving.
Studies show that the mesolimbic system, the part of the brain responsible for feelings of reward, is triggered during the act of giving. This is the same part of the brain that releases dopamine, the feel good neurotransmitter.
Drugs are known to make you "feel good" because they abuse the release of dopamine causing more dopamine to be released and therefore you experience an intense "feel good" emotion.
Using drugs to get this high will leave you with withdrawals, making you need more of it to achieve a greater unnatural high. Following the high, drug users also experience extreme lows and therefore become addicted to the drug to feel high again.
Or you can find your own high by achieving the "natural high" programmed in the brain's mesolimbic system.
This past Father's Day, a father biked 1,400 miles from Madison, Wisconsin to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to hear his deceased daughter's heartbeat.
Even though the father, Bill Conner, knew that his daughter, Abbey, had passed, he found comfort in the fact that her actual heart was still beating. Something in him longed to accomplish the task of traveling to meet 21-year-old Loumonth Jack, Jr.
While the Connor family received devastating news that their 20-year-old daughter Abbey had suddenly passed, the Jack family received the life-saving news that there was now a heart available.
Jack wasn't the only one that received donor organs from Abbey. There were seven different people that benefited from her donated organs. Connor reached out to all of them and Jack was the only one to respond.
That's the part I'd like to focus on for the sake of this article about the fuzzy feels.
Jack decided to donate his time to meet with Connor. Jack chose to fulfill a desire within Connor by meeting with him and simply allowing him to listen to his new heart.
During this meeting, both Jack and Connor received real physical benefits from this interaction.
Jack brought a stethoscope, which he gave to Connor after embracing in a hug as if they were a reunited father and son.
Now, Loumonth Jack, Jr. after suffering a heart-attack, is able to live a healthy life again with a new heart. Abbey's heart. Read the full story here.
That internal response, the"feel good" response, can be brought to fruition by just reading stories about people helping people. You may even have the fuzzy feels right now after reading that story.
Humans are innately driven to accomplish, find belonging and discover meaning. In that process, we find passion. Passion ignites passion.
Each of us have different passions, goals and destinations in life. Isn't it interesting how beyond having our own passions, we have a desire to help others pursue theirs?
I believe we are much more connected than we may ever know or understand.
We need each other to fulfill dreams that we cannot fulfill on our own. And when we help each other accomplish this, no mater how small or large, we receive actual benefits in our own bodies and minds.
Help out. It'll help you too.
Even though the father, Bill Conner, knew that his daughter, Abbey, had passed, he found comfort in the fact that her actual heart was still beating. Something in him longed to accomplish the task of traveling to meet 21-year-old Loumonth Jack, Jr.
While the Connor family received devastating news that their 20-year-old daughter Abbey had suddenly passed, the Jack family received the life-saving news that there was now a heart available.
Jack wasn't the only one that received donor organs from Abbey. There were seven different people that benefited from her donated organs. Connor reached out to all of them and Jack was the only one to respond.
That's the part I'd like to focus on for the sake of this article about the fuzzy feels.
Jack decided to donate his time to meet with Connor. Jack chose to fulfill a desire within Connor by meeting with him and simply allowing him to listen to his new heart.
During this meeting, both Jack and Connor received real physical benefits from this interaction.
Jack brought a stethoscope, which he gave to Connor after embracing in a hug as if they were a reunited father and son.
Now, Loumonth Jack, Jr. after suffering a heart-attack, is able to live a healthy life again with a new heart. Abbey's heart. Read the full story here.
That internal response, the"feel good" response, can be brought to fruition by just reading stories about people helping people. You may even have the fuzzy feels right now after reading that story.
Humans are innately driven to accomplish, find belonging and discover meaning. In that process, we find passion. Passion ignites passion.
Each of us have different passions, goals and destinations in life. Isn't it interesting how beyond having our own passions, we have a desire to help others pursue theirs?
I believe we are much more connected than we may ever know or understand.
We need each other to fulfill dreams that we cannot fulfill on our own. And when we help each other accomplish this, no mater how small or large, we receive actual benefits in our own bodies and minds.
Help out. It'll help you too.
Comments
Post a Comment