Salaams and Good Morning !
Here is your daily dose of Wisdom for Living Your Best Self!
In long term relationships, we sometimes begin to take our spouses for
granted and stop doing those little acts of kindness that we did when we first fell in love. And of course, we seldom make the connection that our relationship is not as happy as it was or could be.
Research that was done about a year ago and published in the journal Emotion, shows that doing something nice for your spouse can boost your emotional well-being —even if he or she isn’t aware of your good deed.
The researchers in the study set out to test the Dalai Lama’s theory that compassionate concern for another’s welfare enhances one’s own happiness.
For the study, 175 couples were asked to record the thoughtful acts, kindness and tenderness that they expressed to their spouse and also record their own daily emotional state during this period.
The researchers found that couples benefitted the most when their acts of kindness were recognized and acknowledged by their spouse (which highlights the role of appreciation in relationships).
However, what they also found surprisingly was that the doersof the acts of kindness reported emotional boosts even when their actions weren’t consciously noticed. In these cases, emotional benefits for the giver were about 45% greater than the benefits for the recipient of the kindness.
The study concluded that giving to others or doing nice things for them because you expect your behavior to be reciprocated is not the key to happiness.
"It’s giving to others for the sake of giving to others that’s important," they said. "As soon as you couch it with, ‘I’m going to be compassionate today because I expect you to be compassionate tomorrow,’ it destroys the effect."
Wishing you a day full of positivity, purpose and peace. 
