The core quality of love is kindness. Being kind to someone else is an act of love. Overall, kindness and love strengthen our positive social connections. All the kind things that we do for other people make them feel good. Such love with kindness brings good feelings and well-being not only to the loved one but also to the person who gives love and kindness. It is worthwhile to note that by doing good and kind things to others, we also benefit psychologically. Is it true? Yes, the kind things you do bring you more psychological benefits than you might think.

How Do You Feel When You Do Something Kind and Good for Someone Else? 

Being kind and loving brings a lot of benefits, not only to the other person whom you love but also to you.

Acts of kindness make you feel more confident, happy, and hopeful. They boost self-esteem and personal satisfaction in one’s life. Such good feelings work as self-rewarding incentives, motivating you to do more and more kind and loving things for others.

People who are kind and loving more frequently experience pleasant feelings. Studies show that being kind and loving makes us feel better. When we do good things for other people, we can feel good and even happy. Doing good things for other people, like helping them out, makes us feel what’s called an “other-praising moral emotion.” This is a term for the good feelings you get when you see other people doing good things, like being generous, selfless, loving, and kind.

Your kind and loving behavior toward others may also inspire others to perform acts of kindness similar to those that they have personally experienced. Therefore, the kindness of love can be contagious. It tends to be reciprocated and transmitted to others. This way, kindness has the power to make the world a better place to live.

All Kinds of Kindness Make Life Happier  

Here is an example of a study I described elsewhere that showed that acts of kindness enhance positive emotions, moods, and wellbeing in those who act kindly. The research findings revealed that those who engaged in acts of kindness felt significantly higher levels of satisfaction with themselves and life. Moreover, the more acts of kindness people perform, the happier they feel. Across groups of participants and experimental conditions, the effect was consistent. Kindness to others, kindness to oneself, and seeing others be kind all make people happier (Rowland & Curry, 2019).

Another study, which I described elsewhere, examined how social media kindness inspires people to do good things. The study demonstrated that watching kindness-related media increased feelings of calmness, gratitude, and happiness. It also reduced people’s irritability. The acts of kindness in the media inspired viewers, making them feel touched and moved. Overall, being kind, even viewing kind media, makes people feel better and more generous (Fryburg et al., 2021).