empathy

In a grim bit of news, it turns out that being around happy people can make unhappy people feel even worse. As reported by Tara Parker-Pope in The New York Times — "Happiest Places Post Highest Suicide Rates" — places like Denmark and Sweden score high on measures of happiness and life satisfaction but also have some of the highest rates of suicide.

Most people think about empathy as feeling each other's pain but if you can feel someone else's pleasure, you are a much happier person in general because it simply brings more joy into your life.

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