How does giving benefit the people we give to and ourselves? In this Move Minds Podcast Bill and Sherrie talk about giving and it’s emotional, mental, and physical benefits.

We thought this would be a great week to podcast about giving because of the U.S. holiday season between Thanksgiving and the New Year. This is a time filled with giving. Whether it’s giving gifts to our friends and family or giving to charities, we tend to give more during the holiday season.

Giving is usually viewed as altruistic (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/altruism) behavior. At least that seems to be the ideal. But we don’t think it is the best way to view giving. That’s why in this podcast we decided to talk about the article Five Ways Giving is Good for You (http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/5_ways_giving_is_good_for_you) from the Greater Good (http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/) website. We wanted to know: How does giving benefit us individually when we give to others.

Here’s the answer we found . . . Yes! That warm, fuzzy feeling you get from giving benefits you in multiple ways.
Here are the five ways:

* Giving Makes Us Feel Happy
* Giving is Good For Our Health
* Giving Promotes Cooperation and Social Connection
* Giving Evokes Gratitude
* Giving is Contagious

The upside is giving benefits the giver and the receiver. Be sure to pay attention to how it feels when you give your time and money.