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Preceptor Wellness Minute

 

By

Rasheed O. Mohammed (Class of 2021)
Suzanne Harris, PharmD, BCPP, Director of Well-Being and Resilience
UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy

 

Altruism as a means of stress management1-4

Altruism: Willingness to do things that bring advantages to others, even if it results in a disadvantage for yourself. Altruism can be beneficial for a person’s well-being and can measurably enhance a person’s peace of mind.

Five ways of boosting your habits to become altruistic

  • Write in a journal about how you are helping others in a big and small way.
  • Make it a practice to help one person every day.
  • Visualize helping others
  • Utilize your natural talents to help
  • Reflect on how others have given to you right now or in the past.

The act of helping can activate areas of the brain associated with positive feelings and offer the following benefits:

  • Increased Psychological well being
  • Increased social support
  • Helps a person keep perspective
  • Stress relief

“Loving-Kindness meditation is a practice that leads to altruism: it promotes empathy while preventing burnout.” – Anna Irani

TED Talk: “How can effective altruism help us do the most good during a pandemic?” Link: https://www.npr.org/2020/06/19/879839276/peter-singer-how-can-effective-altruism-help-us-do-the-most-good-during-a-pandem

Citations

ALTRUISM | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2020, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/altruism Accessed October 4, 2020

The Benefits of Altruism for Stress Management. Very well Mind. May 30, 2019. https://www.verywellmind.com/benefits-of-altruism-3144685. Accessed October 4, 2020

Six Ways to Boost Your “Habits of Helping”. Greater Good Magazine. March 15 2011. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_ways_to_become_more_altruistic. Accessed October 4, 2020

Peter Singer: How Can Effective Altruism Help Us Do The Most Good During A Pandemic? : NPR. (June 19, 2020)., from https://www.npr.org/2020/06/19/879839276/peter-singer-how-can-effective-altruism-help-us-do-the-most-good-during-a-pandem Retrieved October 4, 2020.

Anna S. Irani. Positive Altruism: Helping that Benefits Both the Recipient and Giver. (2018). Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) Capstone Projects.

This Loving-Kindness Meditation is a Radical Act of Love – Mindful. (2018).  https://www.mindful.org/this-loving-kindness-meditation-is-a-radical-act-of-love/ Retrieved October 5, 2020,

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