Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Why Giving Matters


Yesterday as I am moving about the house as I do picking up, the tv had been left on and I got sucked in to watching a live byu devotional. I ended up sitting down to listen which normally does not happen. The talk was titled "why giving matters" it was by a man named Arthur Brooks. I didn't realize until late in the talk that he was not LDS but Roman Catholic speaking to byu students. In his talk he says that he set out to prove wrong the belief he said many entrepreneurs have is that they are rich because they give. He wanted to prove that it was the other way around that as an economist he believed that you have to have the money before you can give the money. Long story short, he found after many studies that he was wrong. People prosper because they give.
Studies show charitable giving makes you happy. Studies also show that when you give you significantly reduce stress hormones in you brain, which makes you a happier more productive person. Giving = happiness, which in turn = success. Utah, he said is the most charitable state and gives twice as much as the state next in line which makes us happy people. There is also a direct connection with practice of your faith and giving charitably. Even people who donate blood are twice as likely to say they are happy than those who don't.
I found the talk to be very interesting and informative. I tivoed it and made Berk watch it last night. Today he called me and said he stepped it up a notch and helped a 80 year old man on the side of the road change a flat tire. I love him for that.
There was so much more from this talk that I haven't shared. It made think about charity in a whole new light. Very refreshing. For those of you who are interested, the talk will be rebroadcasted on sunday. On kbyu channel 11. at 11am or you can watch it here. I hope you all watch I would love to hear what you think.

7 comments:

Amy said...

Thank you for those inspirational thoughts. A great way to start out the morning (visiting your blog).

Leciawp said...

Thank you for sharing this very meaningful talk!

Camille said...

I love those devotionals!

dani said...

great post! thank you so much for sharing it.

Bre Perkes said...

AUNT AMY I FOUND YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Camille said...

Hey I just got to see it today. Very good talk, puts charity in a different light. I'm going to put it to the test!

teacher advocate said...

I finally took a minute to open my BYU Alumni Summer 2009 Magazine and found the transcript of Dr. Brooks address. What an uplifting concept. Statistical proof of blessings - we all know they are there, sometimes it is nice to be able to show the graph to others.

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"Love is the answer at least for most of the questions in my heart. Like why are we here, where do we go, and how come it's so hard." -Jack Johnson