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“If you were truly selfish, you would be more generous.”

A thought by Mark Batterson from his book, Double Blessing (p. 134). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Now that is a very interesting thought.

Mark says, “That seems illogical on many levels, including the theological level. But study after study corroborates what Jesus conjectured: it is happier to give than it is to receive. (Acts 20:35)

“In a study published in Science, researchers Elizabeth Dunn, Lara Aknin, and Michael Norton gave people five dollars or twenty dollars and divided them into two groups. The first group was told to spend the money on themselves. The second group was told to spend the money on someone else. Those who spent the money on someone else experienced an uptick in happiness. Those who spent the money on themselves did not. The question, of course, is, why not? The same researchers tracked a group of employees who received a year-end bonus. Measuring their baseline happiness before and after receiving the bonus, the only significant predictor of increased happiness was charitable giving. It was only those who flipped the blessing that found the blessing!” 1

He later says, “One of the simplest ways to bless someone is with a smile. Make no mistake—your smile is a superpower! Scientifically speaking, a smile reduces stress by suppressing cortisol and increases happiness by releasing endorphins. Of course, it doesn’t take a scientific study to convince us of the benefits of smiling. It’s intuitive. What’s counterintuitive is this: We don’t just smile because we’re happy. We’re happy because we smile. A smile has the power to hack your emotions and trick your brain. 2” 

Marks says, “In all seriousness, what if we leveraged our smiles as a subtle way of blessing others? Your smile has the power to turn someone’s frown upside down! Of course, I better add one warning: smiling is scientifically proven to make you more attractive!”

It really can make a difference.  Will you try it? 

Yes, yes
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