EDITOR’S LETTER
WE’VE THEMED THIS ISSUE ‘giving back’ because we realized, while we were putting it together, how many of the people who feature in its pages do just that. They do things for others without seeking a fanfare of gratitude or, in many cases, even an acknowledgement of their generosity.
The readers of NZ Life & Leisure would never need a self-serving reason to do the right thing but, just in case, there is an overwhelming argument for it. It’s clear that giving back is one of the quickest routes to happiness. And it’s a good sort of happy. Of the two measures of human wellbeing, hedonic and eudaimonic, the latter is the gifting that keeps on giving if you’ll excuse me a mangled cliché.
Eudaimonic happiness reduces stress, encourages better sleep and lowers inflammatory markers. All this, and you thought you were actually doing something to help others. On the other hand, hedonic happiness, which comes from buying that pair of gorgeous red-suede boots or having a party, doesn’t have the same health benefits. It is self- gratification as opposed to the nobler cause and higher- purpose calling of doing something for your community.
They are not mutually exclusive pursuits however, so don’t feel guilty if you give in to the red boot purchase (note to self) because you can also do something for someone else tomorrow. Being happy – even if a brief fling with a hedonic type of happiness – is important too because one mustn’t be a miserable creature. Being a gloomy Eeyore type can drag down others and that’s not on.
Even watching someone help another person can give the brain a jolt of oxytocin in the same way that doing a good deed oneself can. So watch out for the good Samaritans in the street because if you see them doing their best by their fellow beings, you’ll get a blast of eudaimonic bliss too – though at much lower levels.
A purposeful life is up there with giving back when it comes to creating optimum health. And that is one thing that the hardworking New Zealanders you will meet in the following pages know a thing or two about. They have a clear purpose and they have goals. And often these goals are bigger than their own self-satisfaction. That’s the thing about being human isn’t it? We do better when we do something for our tribe.