Paying it Forward

I have work to do, but honestly I am just too overjoyed with what I have to share with you guys so I must blog about this first! Today was such a good day! In many ways I could have decided it was a “bad” day. The weather was not ideal, cold and raining…if you are going to have precipitation at least have it be in the form of snow…am I right or am I right? And my shoulder has been bugging me a lot, which was definitely a negative part of my day. Regardless, the beauty of determining if the day was “good” or “bad”, is that it is all up to us! For me, today was great, one of the best, and it was all because of energy.

I feed off of others energies, when I am surrounded by happy, positive, loving people I emulate those characteristics. On the contrary, being around people that are too negative, hateful, and pessimistic make me feel down, to say the least. Today, I felt both energies, but the positive energies won!! And here is how it all happened:

I went into the cafeteria and was overjoyed! If you know me at all you know that I love fresh produce. I am obsessed with farms, nature, organic produce, animals, and the farmers markets!! So when I walked into the cafeteria or as we call it at BC “Mac”, and saw the beautiful mason jars with farm fresh kale, beets, squash, zucchini that then had some quinoa and salmon on top, I was over the moon! I live for days when we have these meals available! Anyway, I was already in a good mood and I went to check out and per usual, I was talking about my fresh salad with some people that were in line with me. Sometimes I think people like to talk to me about the moon, yoga, my blog, or fresh produce just to see how excited I get about it. I glow when I speak about these things, I get so filled with passion and excitement! And while I was caught up chatting in line, a kind boy very nonchalantly paid for my mason jar meal. Being unaware of this, I then went to hand Maria (my bestie who works at the register) my card and she said he had already paid.

How sweet is that? Honestly, it like made my whole entire day. It added so much good energy into my soul, and provided me with more goodness to give to others. It created value. And although it did cost him something…I think he would say his good deed provided him with a feeling of joy that was more valuable than the price my salad.

I had someone recently request that I do a blog post on small acts of kindness. I didn’t really know how to approach that post so I kind of just put it to the side. I initially thought I would collect a bunch of responses from people around BC who witness or experienced a small act of kindness on campus, and then collectively share them on my blog as a way of promoting the good deeds. I have not ruled that out, if you do have a small act of kindness you have either witnessed or experienced that you would like to share connect with me here and maybe I will do that post! However, after the kind soul paid for my meal, I had a wonderful idea I just had to share!

We are approaching the holiday season and we are always looking for ways to give and provide others with a little extra joy, right? So I am challenging BC to pay it forward. Tomorrow I am going to pay for two strangers meals and in return I will ask that they do the same for someone else. If everyone does this and it keeps going then “technically” speaking nobody would even be down money. Yet, everyone would have gained joy and positive energy. I also challenge you to start it on your own, maybe you do not attend BC, or you are still in high school, you can still do this! In fact you can start this!! You don’t have to have had someone pay for you to be able to spare some of your prepaid meal plan…at least in most cases. And strategically you could use this challenge to start conversation with a stranger, a girl you are crushing on, or someone who you’ve really wanted to become closer friends with. I think this is a really easy thing to do, yet it has such powerful affects! You have the power to impact someone’s day positively, spark joy within another’s soul, and begin the movement of paying it forward!

As always, please reach out to me with any questions, comments, or love. Let me know if you try this and what happens!

Love Always,

Casey