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Helping and Health

Helping others does not only make us feel good emotionally, it often also makes us feel good physically. When we feel good emotionally and mentally we improve our physical well-being as well. The three bodies – mental, emotional, and physical – co-exist in the same space and always affect one another.

A Cornell University study found that volunteering increases a person’s energy, sense of mastery over life, and self-esteem. Other studies have demonstrated how helping others strengthens the immune system and increases the number of T-cells in the body which help to resist and overcome disease.

When you help someone the heart is involved – the emotional and spiritual heart. The feelings are of sympathy, kindness, compassion, generosity, etc. These positive emotions release endorphins in the blood stream. These are the body’s natural tranquilizers and painkillers. They help dilate the blood vessels and relax the heart, reducing stress. This in turn can aid the harmonizing of the relationship between the heart rhythms and brain rhythms, leading to states of inner peace and happiness.

An interesting experiment was done, using a film of Mother Teresa as she tended the sick in Calcutta, that resulted in concluding that even watching someone in the act of giving can boost one’s own immune system. We are essentially all one and interconnected. Observing another resonates within ourselves according to what we are observing, creating corresponding effects within us.

Many studies over a period of several years with thousands of people showed that people who did volunteer work live longer. For example, one extensive study in Michigan showed that men who volunteered regularly had death rates 2 ˝ times lower than men who didn’t.

Research conducted in England in 2004 in 101 localities, urban and rural, found that neighbourhoods with the highest levels of volunteerism had less crime, better schools and happier, healthier residents.

There are three human conditions that everyone would place at the top of their list of needs which volunteerism can help us achieve. They are: freedom, happiness and peace of mind. The reason volunteerism can help achieve these is because through volunteering we help others achieve these three states. By doing so we share the love in our hearts, the respect and honour we have for others, and the validation our volunteering gives to another’s life.

 

Andrew and Bonnie Schneider are now offering personal interactive email coaching for the 4 Level Soul Journey program. Connect weekly with Andrew and Bonnie on how to develop soul consciousness. Read more about this personal coaching from Andrew and Bonnie Schneider by clicking here.

This is one of 150 Soul Perspective articles. For more articles visit Soul Perspectives Index.

Andrew and Bonnie Schneider are now offering personal interactive email coaching for the 4 Level Soul Journey program. Connect weekly with Andrew and Bonnie on how to develop soul consciousness. Read more about this personal coaching from Andrew and Bonnie Schneider by clicking here.