Abigail (Abby) Marsh

But the best thing about altruism is that it feels really good.

for most people, it's intrinsically rewarding to help other people.

And this is true for a lot of reasons.

It's because we feel proud when we've done something consistent with our values.

We feel a sense of self-efficacy when we've acted to take on a situation that was challenging.

And of course, we feel the vicarious reward we get for making somebody else feel good.

And because altruism is reinforcing, the more we do it, the more we'll want to do it.

It is really hard when we confront all the suffering and challenges in the world to feel motivated to act because these problems can seem so big.

And I think there's very good reason to believe that our brains really didn't evolve to handle challenges at the kind of scope and scale that we have access to knowledge about at this moment in time.

And so I think it's really important to focus on the kinds of challenges that you can solve.

Just like forming any other plan, right?

If you want to act in ways that match your values, you think of what's the next step I can take to bring my actions closer to alignment with my values.

And so it's really important to just look around the world around you, the physical world that you inhabit, and think.

Take notice of situations where there's somebody who is in need.

This could be local charities where your actions really could make a difference.

It could be strangers that you pass by in the street who, if you're paying attention, you may see that they have a need, that they are in trouble in ways that you could help.

Yes, this was more recently on a local ski hill.

And one of my kids decided that they wanted to ski in the terrain park area of the ski hill.

And I am deeply afraid of terrain parks.

I am a fine skier, but I definitely do not like going very fast and I do not like doing jumps.