Helping others is something everyone should do daily. If you asked around, you would quickly realize that many people suffer from emotional pain, mental illness, loss, or other life challenges. Many people don’t know how to ask for help or are ignored when they ask for help with their problems. So, if you’re looking to do a good deed of the day or practice regular acts of kindness, you’ll find that there are plenty of opportunities to help others. In this article, we’ll highlight some of the benefits of helping others and share ways to help people in need.
Benefits of Helping Others
1. Connect with others
Helping others can also help you connect to people. Humans are social beings. As a result, when people support one another, it’s not only good for the group, but you built a positive reputation for yourself amongst that group. It’s kind of like you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours. Helping others can help you form relationships with people, which strengthens your social group. The more people you help, the bigger your support network becomes. Thus, the biggest benefit of helping others is that the size of your network grows exponentially as you build new relationships.
2. Experience happiness by helping others
One of the benefits of helping others is that you experience happiness. People who do acts of kindness regularly are more likely to be happy. People who get into arguments, exhibit negative behavior, or are viewed negatively in social settings have more stress and drama in their lives, which makes them unhappy. However, if you’re constantly helping others, people are more grateful and appreciative of you, which causes your happiness to increase. Doing good deeds is a great way to experience joy, and helping others is a great way to get started on those positive actions.
3. Gain a sense of purpose
Many people wander through life looking for meaning or purpose. Believe it or not, but helping others can become your life’s purpose. Look for opportunities where you can make someone’s life better in any way. By focusing on enriching the lives of others, you end up improving your own. You don’t need to complicate your life mission. If you’re helping others, that’s a big enough purpose for one person to take on, and it can make a world of difference. You can devote your whole life to helping others and feel fulfilled lifelong. There’s no shortage of people who need your love, kindness, and help.
4. Helping others makes the world a better place
Another benefit of helping others is that it makes the world a better place. Most people are in pain, suffering emotionally or physically. People who are in pain often project pain towards others. However, if those sufferers were shown constant kindness and support from the people around them, they would project more positivity and kindness towards others. So, if you go around helping others to make them happier, loved, and supported, you can ripple out countless more good into the world with your simple action. And so, you play a direct role in making the world a better place.
10 Ways to Help Others in 2023
1. Be kind to negative people
People in need aren’t always positive or easy to be around. When people are suffering, they often project their suffering outwardly, trying to cope with it. As the expression goes, hurt people hurt people. If you’re looking to reap the benefits of helping others, consider being kind to people who are hard to talk to, negative, or suffering. These are the people who need your kindness, love, and affection the most. It’s easy to be nice to people who are nice to us. So, take your kindness a step further by helping others who mentally drain you or only see the world negatively. With your persistence in helping others, you can change how someone views the world. You could be their light in the darkness.
2. Tell people how you appreciate them
If you asked most people why they hate their job, they’d likely say something about how their boss doesn’t appreciate them. If you look at most people, almost everyone feels underappreciated. Parents slave away to raise their kids, cook for them, clean up after them, do their laundry, and for what? Not even a thank you. So, take some time to give people positive feedback on what you appreciate about them. You might tell someone, “You know, I’ve always loved your positive attitude. Whenever I have a bad day, I know that you’ll always tell me something that snaps me out of it. That’s the trait I love most about you, just thought you should know.” Giving people positive feedback regularly is a great way of helping others see the best in themselves.
3. Volunteer in your community
If you’re looking to help others, volunteering is your best bet. You can volunteer for numerous charities, organizations, or fundraisers to help people in need. Browse through volunteer roles in your local community to help others. Also, you might consider volunteering in something you’re naturally good at. For example, if you’re an outstanding sales representative in your day job, you might help a charity raise funds. Or, if you’re always reading books, you might volunteer at a library to help excite people about reading. Try to tie in your skillset to your volunteer opportunity so you can help others towards a higher level. You could also consider volunteering for roles that are unpopular or that people don’t want to do. Those are the kinds of things that genuinely help others.
4. Raise money for a cause that helps others
Helping others by raising money for a cause is a great way to add value to an organization. Whether it’s a cancer charity or a Go Fund Me page for a family whose house burned down in a tragic fire, you can help people by raising money for them. The world as we know it today revolves around money. And if you ask around, you’ll find people who need it. You can donate your own if you have some to spare, or you can help with fundraisers in the community. Doing one big fundraiser for a cause you’re passionate about per year is a great way to help support people in need. You can ask local businesses for donations or products to help people in need.
5. Donate unused items
Everybody owns something that they either don’t use or even forgot that they ever bought. Give someone in need something that you take for granted. You can give them clothing, electronics, toys, or any other products that you never used so that someone else can appreciate them. If you’re wealthy, you can buy new items, such as back-to-school supplies for students of low-income families, or buy brand new socks in the winter for your local homeless shelter. Doing one big haul a year to give back to the community and help others can make you feel good and make a difference in someone’s life.
Helping others isn’t just giving material possessions, money, or anything physical. You can also help others by sharing your experience to help them move forward when they feel stuck or feel lost in a situation. You might play a bit of a mentor role to help guide someone on their journey to financial freedom, overcoming trauma, or any other big problem that you’ve solved on your own in life.
You can also help businesses by sharing your experience through online reviews to make changes to their products, food, or service. Telling someone the truth about a situation can sometimes relieve people of stress because they aren’t fooled into a fake reality of how things are. So while you want to be honest, don’t be brutal because the goal is to provide value to someone else, not hurt them. Whether you speak at a conference, send someone a heartfelt message, or leave an online review, there are many ways you can share your experience with others to help them grow and overcome their situation.
7. Meditation can help you help others
Sometimes helping others isn’t about making an impact in their lives, but your own. How you feel mentally and physically can be projected onto someone else. Practicing meditation is a way to calm the mind through breathing exercises and mindfulness. You can try a guided meditation for as little as five minutes each day. Most people practice meditation in the morning so that they start the day off on the right foot. By quieting the inner critic, you can share more love, kindness, and hope with the world. However, when your mind isn’t calm, people around you will feel stressed or anxious, adding more problems to their lives. So, if you’re looking to help others, don’t be afraid to help yourself first. It’s not selfish; it’s self care. You can download the free Declutter The Mind app, which boasts countless meditations for every emotion, time of day, or situation you need. You can also check out the Declutter The Mind YouTube channel.
8. Comfort someone who’s struggling
Comforting someone who’s struggling can be a difficult task. It’s never easy to hear someone is in pain or having a tough time. If you want to help cheer someone up, the best thing to do is acknowledge their feelings. By saying, “You seem sad” or “You seem to be carrying a lot of pain from this loss,” you help validate their feelings. If you’re wrong in calling out the feeling, the person will correct you, and you’ll be able to provide better support. Being there is sometimes enough. Often, when people are struggling, they tend to isolate themselves. So, being there to support, love, and simply show up for them is a great way to comfort someone. If you’re related to them or a close companion, you can also provide physical comfort through hugs, cuddles, or other affection if it’s appropriate.
9. Listen to someone
Everyone claims to be a great listener, but so few people ever genuinely feel heard. The words someone vocalizes don’t always translate into the support and love they need. The best way to listen to someone is by mirroring their words. Mirroring their words is a fancy way of saying repeating the words back to them. So if someone says, “I’m having a tough time at work,” you would say, “it must be hard having a tough time at work.” Most people try to jump in with the solution by saying, “how can I make the situation easier for you?” However, before you get to that point, people want to have their emotions and needs heard by someone else. You need to validate their feelings as their needs aren’t being met yet. Mirroring people’s words is a great way to build a connection with someone while helping them feel better, even if they don’t know the next steps to take yet.
10. Help around the house to help others
Helping others isn’t only about helping strangers or coworkers; it’s also about helping your family. In a household, often only one person does the cleaning up. Multiple people might make a mess while one person is washing dishes, doing laundry, scrubbing toilets, and more. Instead, consider helping out the person who’s taken on the responsibilities of cleaning around the home. Do it without being asked, too. Take some time to fold your clothes, prepare dinner, wash dishes, scrub the bathroom, and so on. By spreading out the responsibilities of one person to multiple people within the household, the work gets done faster so that you can all enjoy spending more time together. No one at home should be your servant; you’re not the queen or king of the household. You’re a family member, just like the rest. So, show your love of helping others towards the people you care about the most.
Conclusion
Helping others has countless benefits that ripple out to help people who are having a hard time or going through a bit of a rut. Fortunately, there’s no end to how many people you can help. So, if you’re looking to live a purposeful life, you can help others in so many ways, such as by listening, meditating, volunteering, and vocalizing your positive praise. So, let us know, how are you going to be helping others today?
