Paying It Forward Through Random Acts of Kindness

In October 2000, a movie, "Pay it Forward", was released in theaters The plot centered on Trevor, a 7th grader in Las Vegas, Nevada. His social studies teacher gives the class an assignment to devise and put into action a plan that will change the world for the better. Trevor's plan is a charitable program based on the networking of good deeds. He calls his plan "pay it forward", which means the recipient of a favor does a favor for three others rather than paying the favor back. However, it needs to be a major favor that the recipient cannot complete by himself! Trevor does a favor for three people, asking each of them to "pay the favor forward" by doing favors for three other people, and so on, along a branching tree of good deeds.

The phase, "random acts of kindness" is believed to have originated from a comment written on a restaurant placemat in 1983. The comment, in total, was, "practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty" and later became a book entitled "Random Kindness & Senseless Acts of Beauty", written by Anne Herbert in 1993.

There is a saying, "One good turn deserves another." That means if you do someone a favor, chances are you'll be repaid in kind. The same can be said for random acts of kindness. They can create a "ripple effect" whereby the person you help may be inspired to do the same for someone else, and so on in a virtual cascade of kindness. Karma is a good friend to have on your team! In fact, according to some psychologists just witnessing an act of kindness can prompt someone to follow suit, by "paying it forward"!

Yet,even though these random acts of kindness are intended to benefit the people receiving them, studies have shown that the people doing the good deeds also feel pleasure and happiness as a result. Although the phrase, "random acts of kindness" may have been coined in 1983, it has been around much longer!
In high school Driver's Education (AND THAT WAS MANY YEARS AGO), we watched many films, intending to scare us into proper driving habits. One film with a very different approach, entitled "Courtesy is Contageous", taught that through OUR courtesy to other drivers, our simple act has immeaurable benefits!

While the list is actually infinite in nature, here are a few ideas for acts of kindness:
br> 1~ Send someone an unexpected Thank You note
2~ Have lunch with a new coworker.
3~ Bring treats to work or random meetings
4~ Offer a ride to a coworker
5~ Compliment someone on their social media or front of their boss
6~ Share your skills with coworker with challenging projects
7~ Volunteer with EMS or Fire Department
8~ Ask a friend or colleague about their family and LISTEN to their reply!
9~ ALWAYS SHARE A SINCERE SMILE


What a different world this would be if we would build the habit of performing random acts of kindness in our everyday activities!