A Helper’s High(er)

Have you ever suffered from

A  L  T  I  T  U  D  E           S  I  C  K  N  E  S  S ?

I’m not asking what’s the highest mountain you’ve ever climbed

or if you’ve ever hiked a Pike’s Peak-like trail;

I’m   asking   did   you   ever   feel   the   highest   of   high’s:

A      H  E  L  P  E  R ‘ S       H  I  G  H ?

No, it’s not a myth or even a goal to have or aspire.      .      .

it’s very real and like most real things,

it not only evokes a lot of opinions and theories,

but also a lot of studies that actually present  facts.

Take  any   N    D    A    D.     .     .

That’s right, a Non-Directed Anonymous Donor. . .these are people who literally walk in off the street and say that they are healthy and would like to donate a kidney; not to a family member or a distant relative or a very close childhood friend. . .NO, to an actual person they have never met and quite possible never will; a true; NON-DIRECTED ANONYMOUS DONOR.

Dr. David Lansburg, director of kidney transplants for British Columbia, Vancouver says that such a donation sets off a chain reaction of giving as well as a saving multiple lives.

You think?

Dr. Abraham Maslow called such acts, witnessed and shared,

P  E  A  K        E  X  P  E  R  I  E  N  C  E  S.         .          .

Dr. Jonathan Haidt is a psychologist calls this peak experience ELATION and describes it as a warm feeling in the chest, a sensation of expansion in the heart, an increased desire to help, and increased sense of  connection with others.

Well.           .           .

are you buying THIS a cup of coffee

or treating it like some discarded moldy grounds?

BE    YOUR    OWN    STUDY

You don’t have to go too far back into your own personal photo album to remember,

do you?

If someone yells at you for no good reason, first thing in the morning.     .     .

it’s sets off a chemical reaction inside of you that would make the most sophisticated Chemistry Sets pale in comparison.

Pssssssssssssssst:

The same is true if you

DO GOOD.      .      .or even witness good being done!

FACT:  When you do even the simplest of kind things, you literally feel happier–because you do; it’s the brain’s natural versions of morphine and heroin–they call it dopamine.

FACT:  Kindness gives you a healthier heart.  Oxytocin causes the release of nitric oxide which expands the blood vessels, hence, lowering blood pressure.

FACT:  Kindess slows down the aging process.  The study of Tibetan Buddhist’s Loving Kindness Compassion meditation found that kindness and compassion did, in fact, reduce inflammation in the body.

FACT:  Kindness makes for better relationships.  Seriously, do you hate seeing an act of kindness or actually having one done to you?

FACT:  Kindness is contagious.  Let’s go back to our 28 year old Non-Directed Anonymous Donor (NDAD) who walked into a clinic and donated a kidney.  It set off a “pay it forward ” type of ripple effect where the spouses or other family members of recipients of a kidney donated one of theirs to someone in need.  The “domino effect,”  as it is called in the New England Journal of Medicine report, spanned the length and breadth of the United States, where 10 people received a new kidney as a result of a that single anonymous donor.

So.        .        .

you want to get   H  I  G  H  ?

Get  your  kindness  on.     .     .

It’s the one Rock you can throw

that’ll start three ripples with the first skip:

The  ripple  for the recipient

The  ripple  for you

The  ripple  for the one who might see the kindness.       .       .

One simple act of kindness will get you a one way ticket to a

H  e  l  p  e  r  ‘s       H  i  g  h

W      A      R      N      I      N      G:

B   E   W   A   R   E.         .         .

T  H  I  S       I  S       H  I  G  H  L  Y       A  D  D  I  C  T  I  V E