Kindness and happiness – the other end of the string

Happiness can be elusive. I first added various phrases starting with “especially when,” but I decided that these four words were enough. No one can always be happy, but who doesn’t want at least part of each day to make happy? Certainly the same applies to our dogs (and all other sensory creatures). I realized that I was thinking about this while looking for something in my book on comparative emotions in people and dogs, For the love of a dog. Chapter 7, “Happiness,” speaks of many things related to our mutual happiness. This involves how dogs can make us, how their happiness expressions look similar, knowing that when both species expect something good, they are even happier than getting it. (See my Posted in 2014 (On that topic). The most important way to make your dog happy is to understand it. It’s about what it’s trying to convey, what it wants and fears, and of course, keeping your dog healthy and safe.

I support what I wrote, But to my surprise, I didn’t use the word “kindness.” I was very surprised when I saw the index The other end of the leashand no entries were found for it. Intrigued, I checked out some of the books on a nearby table –Who is a good dog? Jessica Pierce, Dog smartJennifer Holland, and The year of the puppyAlexandra Horowitz. You can rely on each of us, including a long list of other dog training/behavioral experts, and talk about the value of positive reinforcement and the importance of avoiding harsh language and physical modifications. But I didn’t use the word “kindness” at least in the way that I fell into an index of important concepts.

My best explanation for that lack of words found in these books is to be “kind.” It seems very obvious. Weren’t we all told us to be “friendly to animals”? But of course, some members of our species are not tragically friendly to animals. We all know examples. You don’t need to list it here. They are not kind to others, especially those who are less powerful. It’s always been true, but it seems Kindnessas a value, it appears to have been attacked recently.

I thought it might be a good time To investigate the science of kindness. . . What do we really know about its value? This is a lot of research that confirms its power.Various kindness activities will boost happiness,” by Roland and Curry, this concluded:

“ . . . We compare acts of kindness with the no-act control group, comparing them to observations of strong social connections, weak social connections, novel self-kindness, and kindness. The results show that performing kindness activities for seven days increases happiness. Additionally, we report a positive correlation between the number of kindness behaviors and increased happiness [my emphasis]. Neither effect was different between the experimental groups. It suggests that, as well as observing strong bonds, weak bonds, and self and acts of kindness, it has an equally positive effect on happiness. ”

In other words, It doesn’t matter if you’re kind to your close friends or strangers. Being kind will make you happy. And the more you do something kind, the happiest you are. This is just an example of value, the power of kindness to others, and multiple examples can be easily found. Random acts of kindnessfor example, if you want to read more, it’s a great resource. (Apologies… I didn’t know what an author would do in the above study, whose authors are defined as “kindness.” I’m late to post this. Let’s take a look later if life allows.

For years I’ve known this, And there’s the habit of handing out something – perhaps an unexpected hint? – When I feel blue. This is my favorite story. I stopped by the Madison subway for a sandwich and was disappointed by the long queue. However, I found out that five or six of them in the queue were young Latino men and were obviously friends of all of them. I crept up to the cashier and whispered to him that all their lunch was on top of me. I told him to keep it quiet. I meant that, I really didn’t want any attention to brighten up other people’s day. (That makes me wonder how kind I am.) He didn’t stay quiet. This woman is buying your lunch!!”

I lined up and went back to my place And I saw a bunch of healthy young men ordered a sandwich big enough to keep me going for a few days. The person closest to me asked why I was doing it. Normally I would just smile and say why not, but I shrugged and said I had a bad day and I knew it would cheer me up. Everyone got a sandwich and sat at a nearby table while I ordered my little vegetable submarine. Imagine that when one of the men showed up in front of me with a huge bouquet of flowers, he bought it from the next shop from the next door. And cheer me up. Yes, I cried. Here I thought I was kind to others. I could actually cry thinking about it now.

So. My job, After I write this, add this to my do list: What kindness am I going to do for myself today? Would you like to skip? For Maggie? For the gym? For strangers? Just thinking about this all makes me happy. I already know what Maggie is getting, it’s easy: a small bowl of vanilla ice cream, also known as Maggie’s crack cocaine. (When she brings out the ice cream container, she starts chatting in her chin.) Skip wants to work the sheep more than anything else, so I think the fire in Canada (heart breaks for my beloved Canadian neighbor) will love to keep him embarrassed in the summer. The gym is tricky. I promise I won’t shave his belly no matter what I give him (and he made a brownie!). And he had surgery today (carpal tunnel), and needs some rot. For strangers – I’ll look into how I can help people the best He was forced to evacuate in Canada.

For my act of kindness? easy! I read your comments about your act of kindness and feel full of love and happiness. can’t wait.

Meanwhile, return to the farm: One day, I’m feeding birds and butterflies from my hands, it’s like the Disney movie here. Beautiful flowers, blue glossbeaks of roses, gorgeous birds like Orioles, and gorgeous birds like bluebirds that nest up the hills.

Rose Brest Grossbeak by Julie Gidwitz/Macoley Library, Cornell All Able Bird

There are several Grossbeek families, And another beautiful bird raft. But now, just as the music in the film switches from hilarious to blackmail to blackmail, it’s like a Stephen King horror movie. Our feeders are overwhelmed by the gulckle, the Red Wing Blackbird and, above all, the worst of all, Sterling. It’s like a lot of thugs moving into the neighborhood and threatening all the locals.

(Thanks for the picture Wikipedia.) Sterling is a non-native bird Take over the feeder with many native species (they love to drain bluebird eggs. Why is our BB nest on the hills empty?). Now they’re busy chasing away other species, making horribly ugly creaking calls, feeding babies the huge amount of sweat and seeds I spend a lot of money on. The gluckle and red-winged blackbirds can be aggressive, but nothing can rival the star’s all-out intense.

Even in the movie A woodchuck who is nesting again behind the barn, and who has no doubt been able to eat all of my lilies last year, and all of the sunflowers along with many other beloved plants. (Skip came across a teenage Woodchuck (also known as Groundhog) on ​​a walk this morning, and is very proud of him when he was called out soon.) In a bed raised in bed, grown in bed, with the addition of invisible actors who ate peas, spinach, romaine, romaine lettuce and chard, perhaps Woodchuck is looking after the farm. The rabbits and I almost made our peace – I stopped planting crocuses and they don’t seem to mind jumping up into the raised bed. ) And of course there is a shipmank, squirrel (can I stop budding buds and send roots to the center of the earth within a few days?). . (There are no mice in the barn at this time. Thank you to heaven).

I laugh as if I write Because the milk of human kindness was tight in my veins while writing the above section. I continued running towards the kitchen window and saw Sterlings as redheaded woodpeckers, cardiacs and Phoebe’s mom nest in the carport. I should also be barely surprised that Jim and I live in the neighborhoods of many other species of interest that do not match ours. Needless to say, like Sterling, our ancestors are from Europe. Our species were not particularly kind to most of the natural world. So I laugh at myself, find a humane way to protect our interests, and continue.

Here’s a happy photo from the farm: Maggie loves playing with toys as much as dogs I know. Do you want a happy face? Go outside with Maggie and throw her toys. (I’m sorry for cutting off your head, Princess Margaret. I had to limit my time outside.)

Skip and Maggie look kind of noble: (Maggie looks like she wants to lie down, but Skip’s hips are in her way.)

There are some good garden news– Strawberries are prolific. And it’s covered in nets that we hope is enough to protect them from hungry big names.

There are still many flowers. The iris is particularly gorgeous this year. And I just learned that Columbine flowers are good to eat. they are! They are very sweet. How fun it is to learn.

I have to call it quits, But I can’t wait to check in and investigate the kindness you are trying to celebrate the world today. thank you. Don’t forget to be kind to yourself.