Commit Random Acts of Kindness

Small gestures can have a far-reaching impact. Live your life in such a way that others are touched. Each person you touch passes on the kindness and caring to another person, and in this way, your actions have a ripple effect even though you may never know what the end result of your actions will be.

A movie released in the year 2000 starring Helen Hunt, called Pay It Forward, was based on this concept. It’s about a young boy (Haley Joel Osment) who attempts to make the world a better place after his teacher (Kevin Spacey) gives him that chance. The movie’s premise was “when someone does you a big favor, don't pay it back...pay it forward!” The rules were:

-It has to be something that really helps people.
-It must be something they can't do by themselves.
-When you do it for them, they do it for three other people.

You cannot be self-absorbed, living only for yourself, and expect to live an abundant life. By reaching out and making someone else’s life a little easier, a little happier, a little more joyful, you open the door for more abundance to enter your own life and you are able to feel happiness in ways that you could never imagine. As Helen Keller once said, “True happiness…is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose."

[This is an excerpt from Bring It On! Women Embracing Midlife]