This is a Great Time to Pay it Forward!

Hello Friends,

Hope all is well. I would love to share a very simple concept with you -- "Paying it Forward." This is far from a foreign concept among yogis. As a matter of mention, I was recently talking with a friend who told me that she was sending money to another friend abroad who was having financial difficulty. I told her how generous that I thought this was. Her reply was, "So many people have done wonderful things for me and my family that I felt it necessary to pay it forward."

To pay it forward through acts of kindness is to practice yoga. And to think about how to do this is an expression of love. The first idea of paying it forward is thought to be in a play called The Grouch, performed in Athens in 317 BCE. Despite its name, the main theme was paying forward it with kindness. In many of the ancient spiritual texts, like yoga’s Bhagavad Gita, there is a lot of reference on the idea that each of our lives impact one another, and given that we will never be able to pay everyone back in our lifetime, we can instead pay it forward.

There is intention that comes with paying it forward -- we are not expecting anything in return. Rather, we are simply trying to even the score of all that we have already received. So if you hold the door for someone who doesn’t respond, it doesn’t matter. You’re not looking for a 'thank you', because this act of kindness is your 'thank you' to them. So when they accept your kindness, this is merely their version of 'you’re welcome'. This is the act of paying it forward.

Luckily for us, the opportunities in practicing 'random acts of kindness' are endless. All day long we have the chance to show our gratitude to those we share the planet with. After all, we are all connected and in this together! If we choose, we can make our whole life a big 'thank you' every single day!

Sending love,

Geni