Pay Forward Explanation

Pay Forward

"Pay forward" means to pass our wins and gains onward to another person, line for line, deed for deed, cent for cent without holding on to the benefits. A cleric would say one should practice acts of goodness to obtain the grace of God. In our practice we do these things simply to cultivate integrity.

How to Practice:

Pick any recent victory and take the benefit -- whether it be financial or otherwise, and pass it on, consciously, to another person. If that person is in difficulty or despair, lighten his or her burden. Make things brighter.

Pay Forward: Track five times this week you consciously passed a benefit you received on to another person and the results. The benefit need not be a great victory. It can be simply a meeting negotiated effectively, a valuable new contact, or a new piece of business that comes your way unexpectedly.

Pay Forward in the Darkness: Now track five times this week you felt down and out, and then, in the darkness, paid attention to the little wins and gains of your life, paid these forward, and the results.

Reflections:

1. There is a popular motto these days that says, 'Perform random acts of kindness and senseless acts of generosity.' It is an interesting idea. Who knows what curious things will happen.

In paying forward the emphasis is slightly different. The action is not random or scattered, but conscious or focused. It comes out of a place of power and it empowers others.

2. The source of this magic is the act of not holding on -- not holding on to money, to influence, glory or fame, to positive strokes and blandishments. Paying forward is the practice of being willing in an instant to surrender all these things. Paying forward is ultimately about becoming free.

3. When you practice paying forward in a serious way you become a larger person, not inflated, but expansive and abundant. One reason for this is you detect a glimmer of light in your ability to deal with the darkness. You begin to see that the darkness is about holding on, that when you no longer need to hold on you see joy and light everywhere, even in the darkness. In paying forward you have a place of refuge. If ever you are in serious trouble, identify any win, any gain, any joy, however modest -- even listening to the rain -- and pass it forward. It will spin the wheel of fortune.

4. In the age of electronic networks, it will be interesting to watch the "positive multiplier" when thousands of people come to understand the power of paying forward, when at any moment a thousand "wins" are converted into a thousand acts of kindness bringing warmth and cheer and hope.

5. In the end we practice paying forward for itself -- for the sheer joy of it -- and to make our practice of integrity clearer, cleaner, and finer.

See the example.