Giving Way to Happiness (eBook)

We often focus on how our gifts can help those in need. But the act of giving actually improves our own lives as well. In The Giving Way to Happiness, Jenny Santi overturns conventional thinking about what it takes to be happy by revealing how people find purpose and joy in giving. This book is filled with inspiring stories of generosity told by Goldie Hawn, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus, supermodel Christy Turlington-Burns, and philanthropist Richard Rockefeller, among many, many others. Despite their diverse backgrounds, they have all found unexpected happiness and fulfillment through giving. Santi also shares a growing body of scientific evidence that links giving with happiness. For example: - Research shows that altruism involves far more than suppressing basic selfish urges; rather, we are wired to give, as it activates pleasure centers in the brain. - Several studies demonstrate that those who volunteer regularly and frequently live longer than non-volunteers. - People who give to charity are 43% more likely to say they're very happy than those who don't give. - A recent study by Harvard professor Michael Norton found that participants who were randomly assigned to spend money on others experienced greater happiness than those assigned to spend money on themselves.Amidst a culture of materialism and self-centeredness, Santi shows how giving can assuage ennui, give us purpose, and contribute to happiness in the deepest ways.

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A guide to how giving can be the key to happiness—combining the latest research with firsthand accounts from Goldie Hawn, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, and others. As a Philanthropy advisor, Jenny Santi has met some of the world’s most notable and inspiring change-makers. Despite their diverse backgrounds, each of these people has related to Santi that the thing in their life that has given them the most joy is the simple act of giving. In this inspiring book, Santi shares their stories – how they found purpose, healed from past wounds, and discovered meaning beyond material success – as well as her own personal struggles in finding happiness in order to inspire readers to discover the power of giving in their own lives. Told firsthand by such notable people as Academy Award winner Goldie Hawn, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp, philanthropist Richard Rockefeller, environmentalist Philippe Cousteau, and many others, the stories in this book make an eloquent and passionate case that oftentimes the answers to the problems that haunt us, and the key to the happiness that eludes us, lie in helping others. In this book you will discover: - How altruism activates the same pleasure centers of the brain stimulated by food, sex, and drugs - Practical, universally applicable lessons on what kind of giving makes people happy and what doesn’t. - How to give your time, talents, and treasures in ways that are more impact-oriented, energizing, and rewarding than ever In this inspiring book, Santi reveals giving is the secret to living a life that is full of meaning, purpose, and happiness.