The act of giving benefits you just as much as the other you are helping.

The smallest act of kindness not only has the ability to change another’s life, but it also affects you just as much — mentally and physically.

When you shift from a self-centered mentality to one of generosity and you strive to give more than take, you will be happier, you will feel more fulfilled in your daily life, feel less negative emotions, and attract more abundance to your life.

When we talk about giving, it can come in the form of not only donating money or physical items, but also devoting time to another, donating a gift or skill you have, expanding the knowledge, happiness or success of another or an organization, or even just giving up something or compromising for another. Giving is a selfless act… an act devoid of ego. It is, simply put, being driven by love and kindness. It is the result of a capability to see beyond yourself.

Living with this mentality will bring you the most happiness and fulfillment in life.

Here are 3 of the most incredible benefits to giving back and helping others.

Give and You Shall Receive

1. Emotional Benefits of Giving

One of the biggest benefits of giving, and the easiest to measure, is the effect it has on your emotional state. A selfless act of kindness promotes happiness, fulfillment, and purpose.

Acts of charity stimulate the pleasure circuits in the brain, releasing chemicals, like endorphins, that create a good feeling and uplift you, as well as the natural hormone oxytocin which creates a rush of euphoria. This joy we feel from helping others is known as the “helper’s high”. If you are living a life where you are giving on a regular basis, you will feel this joy consistently.

2. Physical Benefits of Giving

Helping others has an incredible effect on your physical state and on your health overall.

One of the most amazing effects charitable giving has on your physical health is the reduction of stress. Stress is a catalyst for many health issues, such as high blood pressure, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes. Helping others has a direct correlation with reduced stress and blood pressure.

Giving also amazingly helps improve both anxiety and depression, and it improves your self-esteem and sense of self-worth.

3. Spiritual Benefits of Giving

Spirituality can simply mean purpose… giving meaning to your life.

Giving and helping others, and living life with generosity and gratitude versus ego, is the most impactful way to bring deep meaning and purpose to your life.

Selfless acts of kindness not only give meaning and fulfillment to life, but also attract abundance. Because when you release the scarcity mindset and the need to hold onto everything you have so tightly, you are happier, you are more positive, you make better decisions, you are open to taking leaps, and living with less fear. You release this great, crippling “need”, and it opens you up to real happiness and real abundance.

Remember this; you will receive back what you put into the world.

Giving is Not About What Can I Get… But How Can I Share

We are wired to chase our own dreams and aspire for success, so don’t be hard on yourself if giving is challenging at first. And yes it’s incredibly encouraging to know that giving benefits us in so many ways! But the key is to not let that become the reason why you give. Giving comes from the heart… it is devoid of self gain. And only then will giving truly benefit you.

In time, you will develop peace around your resources, and giving will become a natural and welcomed expression of love, abundance and freedom in your life. But until then, I encourage you to look for opportunities to give and help others.

Opportunities to be kind, give your time, physical energy, money, food, clothes, etc, are all around you, every single day. If you start to look for them, they will appear more and more.

And once you start to give more often and give freely to benefit others, you will start to see amazing changes in your life.