Paying it forward is doing random acts of kindness for others without expecting or hoping for anything in return. When you are the recipient of good fortune, and you pay it forward to someone else, and then they do the same, the ripple effect of paying it forward can be endless. And the only reward you receive is the good feeling you get and the Universe watching and returning the favor.
Once you understand that concept, you need to understand that it is our duty to help those we can and pay our good fortunes forward.
As citizens of the United States who have the ability to read this post on the internet, we are already more fortunate than most people around the world. Even if you don’t think you have much, someone always has less. When we are worrying about how to eat less to lose weight, someone is wondering when they will eat next. If we are complaining about our job, someone else is looking for spare change on the street. Or, when we think we are so busy and overwhelmed with our life, someone else is living alone with no family or mourning a loved one.
There are so many scenarios like this. We are very lucky even if we can’t always see it.
In the movie, Pay It Forward, a young boy does three good deeds for others in need. In return, he asked them to pay it forward to three other people. Can you even imagine the ripple effect if this cycle continues to repeat?
Examples of Paying It Forward
The website Pay It Forward Day lists examples of people paying it forward.
- A complete stranger paid $10,000 so that one lady could have a liver operation that she otherwise could not have afforded. She still does not know who it was who paid it forward on the day, but she is forever grateful.
- One boy noticed a car was just about to receive a ticket. He asked his mum if he could top up the parking meter to stop the person from getting booked. It saved someone a $79 fine.
- Even back when Benjamin Franklin was alive, the concept was happening. He loaned some money to a friend and told him that when he could afford to repay the loan, to give it to someone else who needed it.
Pay It Forward Red Wing
Next month my family and another family from my hometown are paying it forward too. We are putting on a Pay It Forward party in honor of our mothers, who both passed away from breast cancer one year apart. We borrowed this idea from a friend, but we set up a fund at our local hospital to help patients with cancer make ends meet. As it states on our website, Pay It Forward Red Wing, “It is the organization’s hope that families who receive help will someday, somehow–either financially or otherwise, find a way to “pay it forward” by helping other families during treatment.”
Our party raises money for this fund. The feeling we get when we hear how money has helped others is amazing.
Our mothers had the ability to take care of their necessary living expenses while going through treatment, but many don’t. This is how we pay forward our good fortune to others in their memory.
So far, we have helped over 250 people, and in return, they have also paid it forward.
They have…
- Baked goodies or donated prizes for our silent auction.
- Paid the money back to be used for someone else.
- Prayed for others.
- Volunteered at the hospital and many more ways I’m sure we are not aware of. Because that is the point, right?
We do our part and trust that they will do theirs if they are able.
Power of 20
From aplus.com, After finding a $20 bill in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel, 8-year-old Myles Eckert did what few kids his age or even adults much older than him would do. He gave it to another customer he spotted — a soldier, Lt. Col. Frank Dailey — with this note:
“Dear Soldier — my dad was a soldier. He’s in heaven now. I found this 20 dollars in the parking lot when we got here. We like to pay it forward in my family. It’s your lucky day! Thank you for your service. Myles Eckert, a gold star kid.”
Needless to say, Dailey was touched by the gesture, and it didn’t take long to go viral. After a CBS story on Myles was shared via email and social over half a million times, he was invited to appear on Ellen and visit with former President George W. Bush at his presidential library. A year later, his family is spearheading a nonprofit organization called the Power of 20 with the goal of giving on an even greater scale to charities and families in need — all with the help of everyday citizens inspired by Myles’ one small but great act.
Tracy Warshal
For Tracy Warshal, a simple act of kindness led to an even greater contribution to the common good. Back in 2015 during the holiday season, Warshal noticed that a man ahead of her in line at the grocery store seemed to have forgotten his wallet and couldn’t pay for the few items that he had accumulated.
Here are some simple ways you can pay it forward too!
- Notice others doing acts of kindness.
- Pay for coffee or a meal to the car behind you in the drive-thru
- Give your leftover food to a homeless person, or better yet, make them fresh muffins!
- Offer to help someone in need pay for car expenses or give them a ride.
- Donate school supplies, extra clothes, or lunch money to your local elementary school.
- Volunteer at a soup kitchen, food shelf, or weekend food drive.
- Compliment someone in front of their boss.
- Invite someone alone to your Thanksgiving or Christmas meal.
- Cook a hot meal for a family dealing with an illness.
- Donate to or volunteer to help local charities.
- Read more ideas in my post, Notice Acts of Kindness and Pay It Forward.
The thing to remember, though, is that when you pay it forward, you are not looking for anything in return. You want the kindness to keep moving forward to have a ripple effect on many more people.
Remember when you used to skip rocks? Picture the rock hitting the water and the ripple of waves it creates. That is what we can do with our simple acts of kindness.
The Ripple Effect on Ourselves
According to Psychology Today, kindness is linked inextricably to happiness and contentment—at both the psychological and spiritual levels.
Kindness makes us more grateful and compassionate. Living with a grateful and compassionate heart lowers blood pressure, reduces stress, boosts our immune system, and reduces negative emotions.
Using the pay it forward analogy, if we can pass that on to someone else and they do the same, the world becomes a better place. And we are better able to make the most of our own lives.
What will you do today to create a ripple effect of paying it forward?
“Paying it forward is an expense we all can afford and one that humanity can’t afford to live without.”
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