![\"We](\"https:\/\/johnswriting.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/banner-520-x120-white.jpeg\")
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I’ve been a member of the SGI-USA<\/a> lay Buddhist organization for 44 years. The August discussion topic in the group is “Practicing for oneself and for others.” It’s an\u00a0 integral part of being a Bodhisattva\u2014the stepping stone to Buddhahood.\u00a0As it happens, an example taken from the Greater Good Magazine<\/em> works well for the July WATWB topic.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMaking others happy is more meaningful for people than just socializing with them or doing something to improve our own happiness.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen we aim to make others happier, we feel connected to them \u2026 which is important for us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n – Milla Titova, lead researcher of the study \u201cHappiness Comes From Trying to Make Others Feel Good, Rather Than Oneself.\u201d (greatergood.berkeley.edu<\/em>)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In the study, college students reported on their happiness and on their sense of autonomy, competence, and connection to others\u2014all what researchers consider \u201cbasic psychological needs\u201d for well-being. Then they were randomly tasked to do something to either make themselves happier, make another person happier, or socialize. (Assigning one group to socialize helped determine if seeking happiness for another had an effect above and beyond simply being in someone\u2019s presence.)<\/p>\n Later that day, after doing their tasks, participants reported what they did, and then filled out their happiness and needs questionnaires again. Those who\u2019d done something to make another person feel better were much happier themselves than participants in the other groups, and their greater happiness was tied to a stronger feeling of connection to that person.<\/p>\n Seems like the Greater Good site might be a good source for the WATWB!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve been a member of the SGI-USA lay Buddhist organization for 44 years. The August discussion topic in the group is “Practicing for oneself and for others.” It’s an\u00a0 integral part of being a Bodhisattva\u2014the stepping stone to Buddhahood.\u00a0As it happens, an example taken from the Greater Good Magazine works well for the July WATWB […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[275,357,121,181],"class_list":["post-1600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellany","tag-bodhisattva","tag-happiness","tag-buddhism","tag-watwb"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4VzYS-pO","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnswriting.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnswriting.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnswriting.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnswriting.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnswriting.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1600"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/johnswriting.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1602,"href":"https:\/\/johnswriting.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1600\/revisions\/1602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnswriting.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnswriting.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnswriting.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}