Start By Tuning Yourself
How you pay attention and act with generosity, though, starts with yourself. “Your brain is tied to your heart,” explains Barbara Fredrickson, professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina. The more you tune into others, “the healthier you become, and vice versa.”
That heart-to-head connection exists thanks to your vagus nerve, which among many things, helps calm a stressed, scared, or anxious racing heart and attunes your ear to human voices. The strength of this friendly nerve is measured by vagal tone—the relationship between heart rate and breathing rate. The higher the tone, the better your physical and emotional health—from your cardiovascular system and glucose levels to superior regulation of emotion, cognitive flexibility, and social connection with others.