A short YouTube monologue advising that giving compliments and performing acts of kindness for others improves one's mental health and reduces stress more than self-directed acts or merely thinking kind thoughts. Claims reference a study of ~500 people and the psychology of reciprocity; speaker encourages vocalizing compliments to strangers.
Science shows that for your own mental health, you should never keep a compliment in your head. A study of almost 500 people showed that performing acts of kindness for other people is significantly better at enhancing mental well being than doing things for yourself. Research also shows that actually doing nice things for others results in greater levels of happiness than only thinking nice things about other people. This also plays into the psychology of the law of reciprocity, where if you've given out kindness, you may now feel more worthy and deserving of receiving kindness. Enhancing your self worth Performing acts of kindness for other people also lightens the load because it takes the energy and emotion off of yourself and focuses it on other people, which reduces stress. So if you're passing by somebody on the street and you're thinking, oh, I love their hair, tell them you love their hair.
