Pass it forward

Image: S is for Superman by Xurble

Sounds far fetched, doesn’t it? But like every other story in this blog, it is absolutely true.

I’d like to introduce you to Heroic Stories; let’s see what they have to say about themselves:

As a bonus, subscribing is free, and will deliver stories to your inbox on a regular basis. The current story (12 February ‘08) is particularly fitting to this blog, as it is a Pass it Forward story! The story starts with the protagonist observing a humble family in a freeway on an old pickup truck loaded with what appears to be their entire belongings: Mattresses; toys; boxes full of clothes. As a heavy storm approaches, this person observes an old lady rush into a convenience store, come out with a large sheet of plastic, and motion the wife to help her cover the back of the truck with the heavy plastic sheeting. The story finishes with this beautiful line: I rolled down my window as the little old lady and the young mother emerged to meet at the rear of the pick-up. And I heard the wizened (and soaking wet) little old lady say, “Don’t thank me, Just Pas It On when you have the opportunity.” (The full story is right now in the archives – click here and look for ‘Rainstorm’)

Should you focus on doing Random Acts of Kindness, or on systematically being good to others?

According to Stanford University’s professor Sonja Lyubomirsky, you should do both. Her research proves that our ability to ‘Be Happy’ is determined 50% by your ’set point’ for happiness (ie. genetic influence), 10% is determined by the circumstances in your life, and the remaining  40% is determined by your own attitudes, values & behaviours link.

In that article, she suggests a number of personal strategies to increase your levels of happiness, and amongst them is the following gem:

 - Practicing Acts of Kindness
These should be both random (let the dad with the crying baby go ahead of you at the check-out counter) and systematic (read a newspaper to an elderly neighbor). Being kind to others, whether friends or strangers, triggers a cascade of positive effects : it makes you feel compassionate and capable, gives you a greater sense of connection with others and earns you smiles, approval and reciprocated kindness. These are all happiness boosters.

So go crazy and start doing RAKs or SAKs every day – not only will you make someone else’s day, you will also be making yourself happier!

To learn more about Sonja’s work, head over to  http://chass.ucr.edu/faculty_book/lyubomirsky/

Who would have thought you could get paid good money for spending one year doing charity work?

Today I found out about Vodafone’s “World of Difference“. Here is another corporate citizen trying to do their bit for leaving the world a better place.

Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? I wish I had incorporated “Pass It Forward” as a registered non-for-profit organisation, so I could offer all of you the challenge of nominating yourself to work on promoting the PIF movement for a whole year – and get paid for it!

Maybe I will look into it for next year’s (2009) entries and get some excitement happening around here.

What do you think? If we were a registered charity, would you nominate yourself to work with us for a whole year? If yes, why yes? If not, why not?

Image by Dyobmit

When I started the “Pass it forward” movement a bit over a year ago, I had no idea how popular the concept really was. Today I found out even Oprah got in the act, giving over 300 of her viewers $1,000 to spend on Random Acts of Kindness. You can read more about the challenge and how people reacted to it here, and get involved in the movement by going here If you want to get an idea of something you really could do, take a look at the YouTube video below.

Who said angels don’t live amongst us? There is a potential angel deep within each one of us. The recipe is quite simpls: Have some fun. Choose your attitude. Make someone’s day. Pass it forward.

It really is within your hands. Bring your angel within to live amongst us; and make the world a better place, one Random Act of Kindnesss at a time.

This year, I received a hamper from a friend as a Christmas present. I loved the gift, because I didn’t really need the food, and it gave me a wonderful opportunity to Pass it forward. These are some ideas of what you could do with it:

• Give it to the cleaners / security guards / waitresses of your workplace / favourite coffee shop
• Open it up and give every item as a small present to a stranger on the street. Make sure you add a Christmas card (and if you’re daring, a PIF card)
• Prove to yourself you can be kind to those you don’t like by giving it to an unlikeable colleague or acquaintance
• Walk a street in your town where homeless people often stroll or stay asking for charity; open the hamper, and start offering ‘one thing of your choice’ to every homeless person you come across
• Go to the local nursing home and leave as a surprise present to the resident who never gets visited by anyone
• Visit your church (or preferred charity) and offer it for a fund-raising raffle
• Give it to your Mum

“Have you noticed (…) when you’re walking down the street (…) people don’t smile any more. They have left the ability to smile!” Jack Lalanne

The quote above is from a great video (in Black & White!) from this amazing person called Jack Lalanne.  In that post of his TV Show, Jack argues that we need to forget about so many material things; go back to better eating and a more physical life, and your mind will worry less; your body will have less stress, and we will be hapier.

Why not follow his advice, and give your children the gift of a smile every day?

If you’re interested in his video, please see the Youtube video  below.

No, my loyal reader; I am not going to talk about Bryce Courtney’s famous novel in this post – although it is a highly recommended read from one of Australia’s most powerful story tellers.

Instead, I want to talk about one of the major issues encountered by those of us trying to change the world ‘one step at a time’. As I explain in the history of this movement, I got the idea of working on this project in late 2006. Back then, I was totally unaware of just how many people shared the same idea I had. Since then, I heave realised there is a real army trying to change the world, one Random At of Kindness at a time. Let’s take a good look at them:

The author who started it all

Most prominently is the ‘Pay It Forward Movement‘ started by the author of the novel that inspired most of us, Catherine Ryan Hyde. Soon after I started my web site in its first incarnation, I wrote them an email asking for their help. I essentially asked her if I would be allowed to borrow the design from their web site and adapt it to Australian conditions. (incidentally, I never got an answer!!)

The various chapters

From the Pay It Forward movement’s website you can find a page with the international chapters of this movement. At last count, there were seven international chapters. I just took a look at the web site, and there is only one left!!! (the Singapore chapter). It seems that many people that started a local movement simply didn’t have the stamina, resources, or determination to make it work and keep at it.

Pay It Forward day

Another group with a lovely web site. Unfortunately, their guest-book is empty, and their true stories stopped on May of 2007.

We are what we do

From their web site “Hello …and welcome to We Are What We do, a new movement inspiring people to use their everyday actions to change the world. We’re not talking moving big mountains. More of a gentle nudge from the corner desk. A little prod from the sofa. A gentle push from the PE room.” According to their web page, they have managed to attract 15,941 people to track their actions through their web site. Assuming some of those are ‘dead logins’ (mine being a good example – I used it for a few weeks, then didn’t go back to the web site), they still have managed to create a decent following. They have leveraged the power of publishing by securing funding ( I assume) from their success ‘Change the world’ series. Well worth a visit.

Change the worldin 5 minutes

Another commercially backed project (this time from SBS), this one has a twist on media – think of it as the YouTube of the Pay It forward movement. You can submit video or images that show the small actions that can change the world without much effort. A fun example is the following image:

Australian Kindness Movement

This is the Australian chapter of the ‘World Kindness Movement’, created in 1994. I couldn’t how many visitors or subscribers it has (It sends a regular newsletter, although apparently its founder is not well as since then the web site has been in a hiatus: “Brian Willis, founder of the Australian Kindness Movement, is currently recovering from a serious illness – and now well on the mend. We will be updating the new site extensively over the next few months. -Carl Holden – 9th December 2007“.

How you can change the world

This site is for all those people who despair at the problems that face our planet, but feel helpless and unable to act. You are not powerless. Read on and find out what the problems of the world are, and how we can resolve them by acting on eight guiding principles. (From the web site’s home page). This site does not seem to have membership, and does not publish web stats; although it has a forum. The forum boasts 179 registered members, and the most recent post at the forum was from 25 Nov 2007.

This is the list I have managed to compile so far. Quite an army of strong-minded individuals, trying to make the world a better place; working (mostly) on their own.

But where is the General or Admiral of this army? Where is the vision to ‘unite and conquer’? No, these people believe in the ‘Power of One’. They, like me, were convinced that all you need is a good idea, tenacity, resilience, and the right reason to embark on this adventure. The problem with that view is that it will suffice, as long as success is a ‘nice to have’. I understand if you don’t believe me, even after reading the semi-comatose state in which most of our web sites are ( I include mine, where a daily count of 10 webhits puts me on a great day!). But I do ask you to read on with an open mind.

If you look at the great, visible forces of today that make a difference (whether for the ‘dark side’ or for good), they share one thing in common: They scale up. Look at large corporations. Look at organisations like the Red Cross, Medicines Sans Frontiers, or your favourite (famous, successful and recognised) charity. They all have applied the secrets of modern marketing to their strategy. They all have gained notoriety. They all have more than one, ten, or even a hundred people working with them.

So this is what I propose: Let’s all of us check our egos at the door, and decide we will transform this space by creating a globally recognised movement. Let’s aim to have a million, ten million, a hundred million people doing Random and not-so-random Acts of Kindness every day, or at least every week. Let’s think beyond big; Let’s dream. And let’s unite forces to make this world, truly, a better world.

I will be sending an email to the ‘info’ address of every single one of those movements to make my proposal. I will post updates on this page (or maybe they can simply leave a comment on this post) as replies happen.

Let’s stop WISHING to make the world a better place , and actually DO IT!!!!

Buddha once said:

The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into a habit;
And habit hardens into character;
So watch the thought and its’ ways with care,
and let it spring from love borne out of concern for all beings…
As the shadow follows the body,
as we think so we become.

You see, thoughts are quite powerful things. On that basis, I can argue you just received a gift – by inviting you to have a holiday season full of joy, I planted the seed for a little more happiness in your life over the coming month.

The question now is: what present are you giving your acquaintances for Christmas? How would you like to give them something that can transform their life? Something that won’t cost you a dime?

This is what you need to do:

1. Choose a good deed to carry out today. (If you want ideas, check the Links section or the Ideas page)
2. Write about it : Tell us what you did, when, and how it made someone’s day. Write this on both a piece of paper and on an email to our address (see top-right corner)
3. Download a copy of the ‘PIF CARD’, print it, and glue back and front together
4. Choose a unique PIF identification name for the deed that started it all (I am personally choosing two initials to show it originated in Australia, and then a sequential number – I am up to “AU-00100″)
5. Write the PIF-ID on the card.
6. Put the card and the description of the deed on an envelope.
7. Give the envelope as a gift, and encourage your acquaintance to ‘Pass it forward’

Remember those pesky chain letters of the ’80s that evolved into chain emails? You will be starting one of those, with a difference: Rather than wasting postage and paper, you will be encouraging others to make someone’s day. At least a few of those you touch with your kindness will follow your example.

And someone else will be very, very happy that you did it. They will be the happy recipients of a Random Act of Kindness.

Wishing you a very Joyous Holiday season, and a peaceful and fulfilling 2008.

Sometimes life deals you strange cards. Funny cards. Weird cards.

Yesterday, I was dealt a funny, weird, and strange card. I was searching on YouTube for videos to help raise the awareness of this movement, and came across a great video. It shows the concept of ‘Pass It Forward’ in a more physical sense. Have a look; it may make you smile.

Do you know how to code? Want to help make the world a better place?

The Pass-it-forward movement needs you!!With the recently launch of a new feature on the ‘Pass It Forward’ card, we have stretched ourselves beyond our abilities for web development.

The new feature (called ‘good deed register’) is similar in nature to Bookcrossing . Every PIF card we release from today will have a unique identifier (PIF-ID) that will allow you to check the trail of good deeds that have come before yours, and those that happen after.

To make this happen, we need to do some heavy database-development on the PIF page. We’ll be happy to host the page on a commercial web site, but first we need to develop the engine.

Are you keen to help? Do you have experience on this kind of web development? Send us an email at info (at) pifaustralia.org, and let us know who you are, your experience, and the programming languages you know which could help us. If you have developed Open-Source software, let us know; we would like to offer this development to other web sites for free (if possible) .