Happy Thanksgiving!
Another year of abundant blessings has passed and it’s now time to celebrate with family. As they say, it’s the most beautiful time of the year and we’re lucky and blessed to be with the ones we love during this season. Whether you’re cuddled up in bed with your partner, preparing the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, or cozied up on the sofa watching a holiday movie while sipping red wine, we hope you have the most wonderful time!
It’s the time we spent with our loved ones that make Thanksgiving a lot more meaningful. It’s when we experience so much happiness and love that we want to share it with others as well, multiplying our happiness exponentially in the process. We may not be the richest but it almost becomes second nature to pay it forward. It doesn’t have to be grand, fancy, or even involve money. Paying it forward from the heart is what is truly felt by the giver and the recipient. We’re filled with holiday cheer so we rounded up some ideas on how you could pay it forward this Christmas season.
1. Offer services for free.
If you know a single mother who might be experiencing postpartum depression, gift her with one night of freedom by offering to babysit for free. Your neighbor was recently just discharged from the hospital and no one’s free to walk his dogs so offer your services. An old man lives nearby so why not offer to help him mow his lawn. Give free massages with free hugs. Offer to assume kitchen duty and cook for your mom.
Acts of service to others take time and effort that other people (even strangers, we must say) would surely recognize and appreciate. If they don’t, you wouldn’t even care because your only motive was to help and you did. Just make sure it’s the help that they want and not something you’re just pushing for your own satisfaction.
2. Give meaningful gifts.
There are many ways to make your gifts meaningful. You have to start with knowing the recipients, looking through their interests and your shared memories together. Bake cookies for your sister who’s coming home from overseas work. Make a playlist for your friend who hasn’t been in your neighborhood for a long time. Write a poem to somehow relieve your colleague of grief because someone passed away in the family. Make a scrapbook of photos featuring you and your beau. Needless to say, handmade gifts are deeply personal and would surely make your loved one’s heart flutter with glee.
3. Give practical, functional gifts.
Cater your gifts to the recipient’s job, lifestyle or personality. More people appreciate practical gifts because they’ll be able to use them than fancy ones they most probably can’t.
One gift that could help a friend, a special someone, your sibling, a colleague, a boss, or your parents is ergonomic furniture. The benefits are usually taken for granted by people that they hesitate to make an investment. This is the perfect time for you to chime in and gift them something they deserve and would be able to use on a daily basis. Lucky for you because it’s Black Friday and FlexiSpot has the best deals for Black Friday 2021.
This November 26 (Black Friday) until November 29 (Cyber Monday), you can enjoy up to 60% discount on well-loved standing desks; get your order for free if you checkout at certain times, convert a $1 deposit to a $50-worth coupon, and get rewards from raffles. Just make sure to share all these on social media for more people to hear the word and benefit from the sale, which you could say is also your way of paying it forward!
4. Go incognito and help others, especially the less fortunate.
There are a million ways to do this and here are some suggestions: buy an extra bag of pet food and drop it off at an animal shelter, secure a spot for the driver next to you while you’re leaving your parking spot. Pay for the toll fee of the car behind you or the groceries of the person next to you in line. They would surely be surprised once they get the good news from the cashier. Your colleague may need a recommendation letter or a contact reference that you could volunteer for. You may also leave a treat in your mailbox for your dedicated mailman or at your doorstep for the garbage collector. A restaurant just opened in your area and the staff was incredibly nice so give them a good Yelp review. You could think of more for sure!
5. Don’t be selfish and share your blessings.
It absolutely feels good to be generous so you would never regret it if you do share beyond your normal. It’s not to ask favors from anyone or to win their approval; it’s more of being generous and sharing your blessings even though they are not a lot. It doesn’t even have to involve money. Trust us, it’s the smallest of things. You may leave your laundromat with your change or your seat at the airport with a finished book for someone to enjoy. Be generous with your time and offer to video record a stranger’s proposal to his girlfriend that night. This is just scratching the surface; there are many other ways you could share so don’t ever hesitate to do so.
6. Sacrifice.
Paying it forward means having to put another person’s welfare before yours. Of course, you still have to take care of yourself in order to take care of others but doing little sacrifices can warm someone’s heart and yours too. For example, the customer service representative of FlexiSpot was really nice and reliable in answering the calls. Write them a review for their supervisor to check and see their improving performance. When you are lined up at the grocery store, allow someone to go in front of you if they ask and you’re not in a rush. Let your younger sister borrow your favorite dress or instead of buying a burger, buy fries for everybody to share. The last piece of candy was left on the table and you know your niece hasn’t eaten anything yet. Instead of grabbing it for your satisfaction, you would save it for your niece.
Final Thoughts
Sharing, giving, or paying it forward is instinctive to people who are happy and grateful. It’s impossible to run out of ways on how you could pass on your happiness to others. There is no formula; the only rule is that it has to come from the heart! When you do it unconditionally, you are rewarded with abundant happiness that no money could buy. It becomes even more special during the holiday season when everyone is in high spirits.
