Friday, April 27, 2012

Practice Acts of Kindness

I just want you to know that I actually do love and am thinking seriously about all of these things, I feel bad that I keep picking on them. It is my nature! (I said that in my scorpion voice.) I was totally on board with kindness releasing serotonin, ahhh, all the way up to Move over Pfizer, like the opposite of you had me at hello. What is with the badassification of everything, can't sometimes an act of kindness just be an act of kindness?


Performing an act of kindness releases serotonin in your brain. (Serotonin is a substance that has TREMENDOUS health benefits, including making us feel more blissful.) Selflessly helping someone is a super powerful way to feel good inside. What’s even cooler about this kindness kick is that not only will you feel better, but so will people watching the act of kindness. How extraordinary is that? Bystanders will be blessed with a release of serotonin just by watching what’s going on. A side note is that the job of most anti-depressants is to release more serotonin. Move over Pfizer, kindness is kicking ass and taking names.

There, I fixed it. And now, a hearty YES to kindness! It's nice to do nice things for people, it makes you feel good and it makes them feel good. Totally recommend it. Need I say more? Don't think I don't see you looking down at the eight more inches of text.

The thing is. An act of kindness isn't, always, an act of kindness. I figure I'm talking to people who do practice acts of kindness probably all the time, am I right?

But first let me say first to the people who aren't reading this, give it a try! Try turning your attention ...outward. No no, the other direction. Not toward the mirror! Try not always trying to top somebody's witty comment with your own even wittier comment. Try just commenting "LOL!" or "hahaha," which I like even better. It's not that I'm anti-LOL. I am, if you must know, anti-ROTFL. Because when I type LOL, I am, actually, laughing out loud. But even somebody who laughs as much as me rarely actually rolls on the floor laughing. I mean, I have on a few occasions. But on those occasions, I was certainly not in any condition to operate a keyboard. I realize that I may be limited by my perspective as a person who's still rocking a Motorola RAZR and therefore connects to the internet only with my giant laptop. I suppose you smartphone people could be rolling on the floor laughing and portably typing ROTFL, but that means something was so funny that you fell to the floor without giving up your grip on your phone? Put that shit down for a second, seriously.

The reason I like hahaha better than LOL is because hahaha is the sound of your laughter. It is the most generous sound.

(Also I am not anti-LMAO, even though nobody actually laughs her AO. It is understood that this is figurative. ROTF could be literal.)

But back to when is an act of kindness not an act of kindness. Or when do acts of kindness stop making you feel good. Because you might be thinking that practicing acts of kindness isn't something that you do differently than happy people, but you aren't. Happy.

A thing that Myra and I talk about is, why do I always, or very frequently, or more frequently than is probably healthy for me, do nice things for people, and the answer is right up there: kindness a drug. It does make you feel good, so you do it again. And again, and again like a rat pushing a lever. And you know, people need things done for them all the time; so it's really easy to do nice things for people. An easy thing to do that makes you feel good, you see where this is going.

It's just like drugs, man. Or I guess it's not just like drugs because I don't think I'm supposed to say that a little bit of drugs is okay, just a lot of drugs is bad. Look, I'm not saying anything about drugs. About kindness, though. If it's not making you happy, you might have to try doing something harder.

Try doing something harder like what, I'm not going to tell you. Because I'm mean. Hahaha!