I LOVE this recent blog by the Harvard Business Review about the importance of friends as well as being generous - being a good friend, being generous to your friends, etc.

I thought these paragraphs about recent research were interesting:

“Researchers conducted three studies. First, they surveyed more than 600 Americans and found that spending money on gifts and charities led to greater happiness than spending money on oneself.

Then they looked at workers who had just received bonuses and found that their happiness was not based on the size of their bonus but on the decision they made about what to do with whatever amount of money they received. Those who spent more of their bonus on others were happier than those who spent the money on themselves.

Finally, the researchers simply gave money to a number of people, instructing some to spend the money on themselves and others to spend the money on others. At the end of the day, the ones who spent money on others were happier.”

In a “me first” culture, let’s encourage kids to build quality, sacrificial, and significant friendships.