I know what you are thinking. When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. Research conducted at the University of British Colombia and published in Health Psychology, however, indicates that we can create an improved state of physical and mental well being by spending money on others.
The researchers divided their subjects into 2 groups, both of whom were diagnosed with hypertension. One group was told to spend $40 on themselves while the other group was instructed to spend money on others. At the end of the study with variables such as age and education taken into effect, the participants who spent money on others had lower blood pressures.
The researchers hypothesized a number of explanations about why this kind of prosocial spending enhances well being including the ideas that giving evokes positive emotions and that it helps us make better and stronger connections with others.
From a resilience perspective, strengthening social ties helps us both on the front end and back end of the Resilience ContinuumSM. It helps build hardiness which mitigates the stress before we even confront it and it allows us to recover more quickly by giving us a chance to defuse it after we’ve had a challenging day.
Go ahead and buy lunch for a loved one or pal this week and enjoy this simple pleasure.
BTW…Last night I had dinner with a client who had completely dog eared his copy of The Resilience Advantage and had tons of ideas of how he could apply the ideas in the book to his team and organization. You can pick up your copy at Amazon by clicking here.
© Richard Citrin, All rights reserved, 2016
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