Quotessence
Home / Books / A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives

A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives

Book by Thupten Jinpa · 2 quotes · Altruism, Compassion, Research

Filter quotes by topic

AllAltruismCompassionResearchScienceSelflessnessChildrenMother TeresaNeurosciencePsychologyService

A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives Quotes

“When we help someone with genuine concern for her well-being, levels of endorphins, which are associated with euphoric feeling, surge in the brain, a phenomenon referred to as the helper’s high. In studies in which participants were asked to consciously extend compassion to another person, the reward centers of the compassionate brain were activated – the same brain system that lights up when we think of chocolate or another treat...The fulfillment Mother Teresa derived from her selfless service was a by-product, not the goal. Her primary motive was to bring help and solace to the destitute. This is the catch – a happy catch – to compassion: The more we are in it for other people, the more we get out of it ourselves.”

ScienceCompassionResearchServiceAltruismSelflessnessNeuroscienceMother Teresa
Book:A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives
Create image

“In subsequent studies, Warneken and Tomasello found that children were willing to help even when doing so involved hardship and interrupting their play. Interestingly, they also found that rewarding the children was counterproductive. The children who were rewarded for helping were later less likely to help than those who had never been rewarded. Studies also show that infants as young as six months demonstrate clear preference for toys that enact helping behavior rather than hindering.”

ChildrenScienceCompassionPsychologyResearchAltruismSelflessness
Book:A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives
Create image