Your Legacy

Thank you to my amazing Office Manager, Jessica for sharing this one with us in our morning meeting.

Too often we (myself included) focus on our “success.”

We want to achieve, to hit big goals, to overcome setbacks.

That is all perfectly fine, but what matters most is what we leave behind.

“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.”
― Shannon Alder

When we leave this Earth (and believe me, none of us are getting out of here alive :), we will not be remembered for our accolades but instead for the impact we leave on others.

A bonus to all of this, is that when you seek to help others feel good, to be kind, to be caring, to be friendly, to lend a helping hand, you in turn feel better as well (exponentially in fact).

So strive to reach your goals, most definitely.

But along the way, focus more on the people who’s lives you get to touch, that impact may be much more profound than you think!

Happy Tuesday, my friends!

-Dr. Lindeman

Practice Kindness… It makes YOU happy

Want to be happier?

Be NICE to others 🙂

There is a PLETHORA of evidence that shows when we practice kindness toward others, we increase our own happiness. This study published in the Journal of Social Psychology showed that people who performed acts of kindness for 10 days, were significantly happier than those who did not.

The website: kindness.org did a meta-analysis (basically taking a whole bunch of studies on the same thing, figuring out their validity and combining the results) that showed in fact “being kind genuinely does boost your happiness.” (https://medium.com/kindlab/does-kindness-create-happiness-19126c5883ff)

Another study that I learned about this morning, measured happiness scores between people who were given $5 or $20 and they could spend on themselves or others. The people who spent on others were across the board happier. Even more interesting though was they also did this study in Canada and in Uganda. $20 means a lot more to people in Uganda than it does to people living in urban Canada. The same amount of money that can buy you a few lattes in Canada can purchase important medication for your whole family in Uganda. What the researchers found was that people in both areas felt happier (and almost by the same amount) when they spent the money on others, rather than themseleves/their own families.

I love this study for a few reasons. 1) Be kind, you will be happier and 2) It doesn’t take A BIG thing to increase your happiness. Small acts of kindness will improve your own well-being just as much as HUGE ones. The good news about that, small acts are so much easier to do over-and-over again, day after day.

So do some small things, plant some kindness and soak up that love you feel inside 🙂

Have a kind and happy Wednesday!

-Dr. Lindeman

Kindness is Contagious :)

Watch this brief (2 min or so) video on the importance (backed by research) of sharing kindness.

It isn’t hard to do.

Little things go a long way (in the video you can see how even a small act of holding a door for someone releases a plethora of chemicals inside ourselves and others to promote happiness, health and well being).

And… those chemicals spread from person to person.

So by being kind… you can improve your health and the health of a community!

BE KIND :)))!

-Dr. Lindeman