welcome back to reality
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what inspires generosity what makes
people want to give their time or effort
or money to strangers you might think
we're only in it because we expect
something in return that your generosity
will be reciprocated but in truth all
sorts of internal factors put us in a
giving mood things like feeling empathy
for who we're giving to or that elevated
feeling we get when we watching others
be generous or sometimes just a reminder
that we're tiny humans on a big rock
hurtling through space helps us be a
little kinder to each other the sense of
the small self that we are a part of
something much bigger than ourselves has
been associated with experiences of awe
and studies have shown that by
cultivating a sense of awe we can
cultivate generosity so let's see if the
science holds up Emily welcome do you
have any idea what we're doing here
today don't have the slightest clue
that's perfect
we brought in a group of participants to
try one of two activities have you ever
done anything in virtual reality no are
you curious about it I'm kind of scared
if it gets a little too intense let us
know but I think you're gonna really
enjoy it great yeah that's true let's do
it okay one group got to experience
something very few human beings ever
have they went on a tour of the planet
this is so cool looks very real I feel
like I'm oh that's so cool oh my god
what feels like a dream
Wow this is amazing
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Oh welcome back to reality oh I'm almost
speechless really kind of got lost in
the moment I did it was pretty awesome
I felt like I was actually in in the
water what emotions did you feel like
just ah like a heart feeling like it
makes me want to see more and it's just
exciting and exhilarating make you
realize how small you are in the scheme
of things you know it kind of put you
into perspective reminds me that I'm not
alone in this world
I felt like I was at peace you know
knowing that you're a small speck in
something huge and if it's a lot of
things in two perspectives for our
control group though they had to do
something a little more mundane don't
see anything yet it's my own space empty
space yep they had to stand in a literal
empty grey room it's still in VR but
it's not exactly ah inspiring still like
the just the empty white dome the dome
all right welcome back to reality happy
to be back really well how was the
virtual world didn't really do much for
me I'm not a big stand in a empty place
type of guy once participants went
through their respective experiences we
had them make us a pie Oh a pie chart'
dang it I misread that so this circle
represents your year ahead of you all
the time you have but we want you to
divide this up into these five
categories you have your family if
career helping others yourself and
travel for our purposes family and
helping others are the two categories
we're most interested in
they represent giving time and energy
while the other categories are more self
focused it was just a matter of busting
out the old protractor to figure out how
much time they wanted to allocate to
giving to others
participants who spent time in our
endless grave purgatory said they wanted
to dedicate 41% of their year to helping
others I'm career-oriented right now I'm
you know yeah when I looked it I thought
it was a bit sort of selfish you know so
little time was allocated to helping
other people but when they experience
something that evoked a sense of ah they
were more giving with their time and
felt they wanted to donate 52 percent of
it to their family or others when you
help others it comes back to you too
full or threefold as long as they don't
put myself first and I help others that
you know it's just a great feeling and
overall a better way to live life so was
it all that inspired the difference
I felt enlightened by how vast
everything is we're used to kind of
living mundane lives but then you have
an experience like this and you're like
there's so much more than just where I
am right now most people are just going
through life you know on their phones
just caught up in what's happening right
there they're not looking at it made me
feel like I'm small but I'm matter it
does humble you a little bit to be a
little bit more generous makes you
really think about oh maybe I can
actually help someone else out ah is a
profound feeling and it moves us to
consider the world and our place in it
when we feel that sense of wonder and
inspiration we often remember that we're
all just tiny creatures on a great big
planet that sense of odd drives us to
feel more inclined to help others with
our time and effort and the good news is
that you don't have to look far for
inspiration all you need is a forest of
tall trees or a starry night sky when
the world fills you with a sense of awe
you are inspired to make the world a
more awesome place
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