How To Pay it Forward

Here is the simplified version of paying it forward. Luckily the concept IS simple, so nothing is lost! The idea is that when a good deed is done the person that has been on the receiving end of the deed then does a good deed for someone else. This is often depicted by a man holding a door for a lady, and this lady then picks up a dropped coin and gives it to another person who had dropped it, this person then, remembering the good act done to them proceeds to help an old lady cross the street. The one simple act at the beginning was the catalyst, the spark of fire that good will needed to pass from one person to another.

The idea continues to grow as now even people observing a good act done to another, not even to them, will go and pay it forward just from seeing that someone else was kind to a stranger.... here is where it gets good...

You benefit, directly as this cycle continues... here is how. These strangers that are depicted in the story are real people, maybe your mailman, a grocery clerk, or another person that you contact with often directly, but even more so indirectly through your other connections. You actually do not come in contact with the billions of people that are on Earth. Your real world that most of your daily living is done really is only a few connections deep. Your grocery bag virtuoso might the son of your daughter's teacher... not unheard of at all. Or maybe your bus driver's wife works as clerk in the office next store. You see these connections all the time... It's a Small World After All.

So as you pass your good deed that person helps someone else and that person helps someone, but since your network is not billions of people the good will that is past comes back to you and feeds the ever growing community of kind acts. Eventually it comes back, but this time from five people around you. So your one act has come back 5 fold, or maybe only 3, or maybe a 100! The point is that the benefits of paying it forward are much closer to home than you think, literally and spiritually.

To get you started...here are a few ways to pay it forward in your everyday life.. please add yours in the comment section and I will add the best to this list.

1.) Open the door for a stranger
2.) Slow down and let a person merge in traffic
3.) Let the person with less groceries go first (this will make their day, I know it makes mine)
4.) Compliment someones shoes or hat
5.) Say thank you to anyone that gives you a service (bus driver, doorman, waitress, valet, etc)
6.) Tip on feeling not on percentage
7.) Smile
8.) Smile more. Seriously now.
9.) Ok one more time... smile now... do it... now the next time you aren't at a computer you will be READY! Try it out on a stranger
10.) Try it out on another stranger
11.) There is a reason smiling is on here 5 thousand times, roughly, it is because it works, it is simple, and it is CHEAP! best investment since gold
12.) Hug your friends good bye
13.) Pick up a check
14.) Say hello to someone you don't know (you don't have to do anything more.... even the shyest of the shy can pull off one word... I know you can!)
15.) Laugh at jokes
16.) Laugh at bad jokes
17.) When you are thankful, say so
18.) Receive expecting to Give instead of vice versa
19.) Share your knowledge with the world
20.) Share
21.) Add YOUR way to pay it forward in the comments section of this page.
22.) Share this page with your friends, family, coworkers, and pets.

The beauty of being part of a community and acting in good will is that it grows stronger. But the beauty I speak of is that it grows stronger at an exponential rate, it goes up quickly and enhances itself by multiplication instead of addition. It works like your social network online: a strong viral nature. As a piece of interesting news is shared more people have it and share it with more people 1 person shares with 10 those ten share with 10 and we are over a hundred and we only shared it twice! Paying it forward acts the same way as it spreads out but then also as the good deeds work themselves back to the original person, or at least just one person we are looking at (for we could look at any one of these people)... but as these deeds show themselves again to this original person it only makes their drive to act kindly even stronger and so on and so forth. We have a dense network of kind acts and sharing of "wealth."

Help a stranger today, save a dollar tomorrow.
Help a stranger now, smile forever.

There is nothing wrong with win-win situations. Nothing. You are a person as well so don't forget to pay yourself every now and then.