Pay It Forward

 

TODAY, consider performing an act-of-kindness for someone who can never repay you.

Sometimes our light goes out but
is blown into flame by another human being.
Each of us owes deepest thanks
to those who have rekindled this light.
- Albert Schweitzer

Each of us has been generously gifted by parents, teachers, mentors, and others we can never repay. So, in gratitude for what we have received, it is now our turn to generously gift the children, the up-and-coming, and the down-and-out -- with no expectation that they can ever repay us - and with the hope that they will, in turn, pay-forward to another generation.

Pay It Forward.
Gift future generations in proportion to your gratitude.
The nature of life is that we pay forward
our biological creation and nurture.
Our parents gift us with life and nurture,
and we gift our children with life and nurture.
While this much is essential to continued human existence,
choose to take "pay it forward" farther - much farther.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The debt of gratitude we owe our mother and father
goes forward, not backward.
What we owe our parents is the bill presented to us by our children.
- Nancy Friday

The moment you become miserly you are closed
to the basic phenomenon of life: expansion, sharing.
The moment you start clinging to things,
you have missed the target.
Because things are not the target,
you, your innermost being, is the target -
not a beautiful house, but a beautiful you;
not much money, but a rich you;
not many things, but an open being,
available to millions of things.
- Osho

Further reading: Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving

True Measure of a Successful Life

Universal Kindness and Compassion
    

Our Debt of Gratitude Goes Forward, Not Backward - Pay It Forward

TODAY, consider performing an act-of-kindness for someone who can never repay you.

Sometimes our light goes out but
is blown into flame by another human being.
Each of us owes deepest thanks
to those who have rekindled this light.
- Albert Schweitzer

Each of us has been generously gifted by parents, teachers, mentors, and others we can never repay. So, in gratitude for what we have received, it is now our turn to generously gift the children, the up-and-coming, and the down-and-out -- with no expectation that they can ever repay us - and with the hope that they will, in turn, pay-forward to another generation.

Pay It Forward.
Gift future generations in proportion to your gratitude.
The nature of life is that we pay forward
our biological creation and nurture.
Our parents gift us with life and nurture,
and we gift our children with life and nurture.
While this much is essential to continued human existence,
choose to take "pay it forward" farther - much farther.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The debt of gratitude we owe our mother and father
goes forward, not backward.
What we owe our parents is the bill presented to us by our children.
- Nancy Friday

The moment you become miserly you are closed
to the basic phenomenon of life: expansion, sharing.
The moment you start clinging to things,
you have missed the target.
Because things are not the target,
you, your innermost being, is the target -
not a beautiful house, but a beautiful you;
not much money, but a rich you;
not many things, but an open being,
available to millions of things.
- Osho

Further reading: Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving

True Measure of a Successful Life

Universal Kindness and Compassion
    

Our Debt of Gratitude

 

TODAY, consider performing an act-of-kindness for someone who can never repay you.

Sometimes our light goes out but
is blown into flame by another human being.
Each of us owes deepest thanks
to those who have rekindled this light.
- Albert Schweitzer

Each of us has been generously gifted by parents, teachers, mentors, and others we can never repay. So, in gratitude for what we have received, it is now our turn to generously gift the children, the up-and-coming, and the down-and-out -- with no expectation that they can ever repay us - and with the hope that they will, in turn, pay-forward to another generation.

Pay It Forward.
Gift future generations in proportion to your gratitude.
The nature of life is that we pay forward
our biological creation and nurture.
Our parents gift us with life and nurture,
and we gift our children with life and nurture.
While this much is essential to continued human existence,
choose to take "pay it forward" farther - much farther.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The debt of gratitude we owe our mother and father
goes forward, not backward.
What we owe our parents is the bill presented to us by our children.
- Nancy Friday

The moment you become miserly you are closed
to the basic phenomenon of life: expansion, sharing.
The moment you start clinging to things,
you have missed the target.
Because things are not the target,
you, your innermost being, is the target -
not a beautiful house, but a beautiful you;
not much money, but a rich you;
not many things, but an open being,
available to millions of things.
- Osho

Further reading: Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving

True Measure of a Successful Life

Universal Kindness and Compassion
    

The Power of a Mother

 

A mother is not a person to lean on,
but a person to make leaning unnecessary.
- Dorothy Canfield Fisher

A mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled.
- Emily Dickinson

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss
at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.
- Honore de Balzac

God could not be everywhere, so he created mothers.
- Jewish Proverb

We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves.
- Henry Ward Beecher

Further reading: Debt of Gratitude

Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving
     

Choose an Act-of-Kindness

 

TODAY, consider performing an act-of-kindness for someone who can never repay you.

Is there someone who will be alone on Thanksgiving unless you share your table with them?

Sometimes our light goes out but
is blown into flame by another human being.
Each of us owes deepest thanks
to those who have rekindled this light.
- Albert Schweitzer

Each of us has been generously gifted by parents, teachers, mentors, and others we can never repay. So, in gratitude for what we have received, it is now our turn to generously gift the children, the up-and-coming, and the down-and-out -- with no expectation that they can ever repay us - and with the hope that they will, in turn, pay-forward to another generation.

Pay It Forward.
Gift future generations in proportion to your gratitude.
The nature of life is that we pay forward
our biological creation and nurture.
Our parents gift us with life and nurture,
and we gift our children with life and nurture.
While this much is essential to continued human existence,
choose to take "pay it forward" farther - much farther.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The debt of gratitude we owe our mother and father
goes forward, not backward.
What we owe our parents is the bill presented to us by our children.
- Nancy Friday

The moment you become miserly you are closed
to the basic phenomenon of life: expansion, sharing.
The moment you start clinging to things,
you have missed the target.
Because things are not the target,
you, your innermost being, is the target -
not a beautiful house, but a beautiful you;
not much money, but a rich you;
not many things, but an open being,
available to millions of things.
- Osho

Further reading: Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving

True Measure of a Successful Life

Universal Kindness and Compassion
    

Mother's Day 2021

A mother is not a person to lean on,
but a person to make leaning unnecessary.
- Dorothy Canfield Fisher

A mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled.
- Emily Dickinson

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss
at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.
- Honore de Balzac

God could not be everywhere, so he created mothers.
- Jewish Proverb

We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves.
- Henry Ward Beecher

Further reading: Debt of Gratitude

Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving
     

Express Your Gratitude by Paying It Forward

 

TODAY, consider performing an act-of-kindness for someone who can never repay you.

Is there someone who will be alone on Thanksgiving unless you share your table with them?

Sometimes our light goes out but
is blown into flame by another human being.
Each of us owes deepest thanks
to those who have rekindled this light.
- Albert Schweitzer

Each of us has been generously gifted by parents, teachers, mentors, and others we can never repay. So, in gratitude for what we have received, it is now our turn to generously gift the children, the up-and-coming, and the down-and-out -- with no expectation that they can ever repay us - and with the hope that they will, in turn, pay-forward to another generation.

Pay It Forward.
Gift future generations in proportion to your gratitude.
The nature of life is that we pay forward
our biological creation and nurture.
Our parents gift us with life and nurture,
and we gift our children with life and nurture.
While this much is essential to continued human existence,
choose to take "pay it forward" farther - much farther.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The debt of gratitude we owe our mother and father
goes forward, not backward.
What we owe our parents is the bill presented to us by our children.
- Nancy Friday

The moment you become miserly you are closed
to the basic phenomenon of life: expansion, sharing.
The moment you start clinging to things,
you have missed the target.
Because things are not the target,
you, your innermost being, is the target -
not a beautiful house, but a beautiful you;
not much money, but a rich you;
not many things, but an open being,
available to millions of things.
- Osho

Further reading: Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving

True Measure of a Successful Life

Universal Kindness and Compassion
    

Mother's Day 2020

Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.
- William Makepeace Thackeray

A mother is not a person to lean on,
but a person to make leaning unnecessary.
- Dorothy Canfield Fisher

A mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled.
- Emily Dickinson

God could not be everywhere, so he created mothers.
- Jewish Proverb

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss
at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.
- Honoré de Balzac

Honor your father and your mother.
- Exodus 20:12

Further reading: The #1 Secret of Great Relationships

A Happy Family 

What is Love?

What is a Home?

Marriage
     

Be Grateful, Pay It Forward

TODAY, consider performing an act-of-kindness for someone who can never repay you.

Is there someone who will be alone on Thanksgiving unless you share your table with them?

Sometimes our light goes out but
is blown into flame by another human being.
Each of us owes deepest thanks
to those who have rekindled this light.
- Albert Schweitzer

The moment you become miserly you are closed
to the basic phenomenon of life: expansion, sharing.
The moment you start clinging to things,
you have missed the target.
Because things are not the target,
you, your innermost being, is the target -
not a beautiful house, but a beautiful you;
not much money, but a rich you;
not many things, but an open being,
available to millions of things.
- Osho

The debt of gratitude we owe our mother and father
goes forward, not backward.
What we owe our parents is the bill presented to us by our children.
- Nancy Friday

Each of us has been generously gifted by parents, teachers, mentors, and others we can never repay. So, in gratitude for what we have received, it is now our turn to generously gift the children, the up-and-coming, and the down-and-out -- with no expectation that they can ever repay us - and with the hope that they will, in turn, pay-forward to another generation.

Pay It Forward.
Gift future generations in proportion to your gratitude.
The nature of life is that we pay forward
our biological creation and nurture.
Our parents gift us with life and nurture,
and we gift our children with life and nurture.
While this much is essential to continued human existence,
choose to take "pay it forward" farther - much farther.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

True Measure of a Successful Life

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving

Universal Kindness and Compassion
    

Father's Day 2019

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children: One is roots, the other is wings.
- Hodding Carter

You can never really live anyone else's life,
not even your child's.
The influence you exert is through your own life,
and what you've become yourself.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

The best inheritance a parent can give his children
is a few minutes of his time each day.
- Orlando A. Battista

If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.
- Carl Jung

Let parents bequeath to their children
not riches, but the spirit of reverence.
- Plato

Every parent is at some time the father of the unreturned prodigal,
with nothing to do but keep his house open to hope.
- John Ciardi

Nothing you do for a child is ever wasted.
- Garrison Keillor

Further reading: Feed the Children

Preserve Our Grandchildren's Planet

All Children Are God's Children
     

Be Grateful, and Pay It Forward

Sometimes our light goes out but
is blown into flame by another human being.
Each of us owes deepest thanks
to those who have rekindled this light.
- Albert Schweitzer

TODAY, consider performing an act-of-kindness for someone who can never repay you.

Is there someone who will be alone on Thanksgiving unless you share your table with them?

The moment you become miserly you are closed
to the basic phenomenon of life: expansion, sharing.
The moment you start clinging to things,
you have missed the target.
Because things are not the target,
you, your innermost being, is the target -
not a beautiful house, but a beautiful you;
not much money, but a rich you;
not many things, but an open being,
available to millions of things.
- Osho

The debt of gratitude we owe our mother and father
goes forward, not backward.
What we owe our parents is the bill presented to us by our children.
- Nancy Friday

Pay It Forward.
Gift future generations in proportion to your gratitude.
The nature of life is that we pay forward
our biological creation and nurture.
Our parents gift us with life and nurture,
and we gift our children with life and nurture.
While this much is essential to continued human existence,
choose to take "pay it forward" farther - much farther.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Each of us has been generously gifted by parents, teachers, mentors, and others we can never repay. So, in gratitude for what we have received, it is now our turn to generously gift the children, the up-and-coming, and the down-and-out -- with no expectation that they can ever repay us - and with the hope that they will, in turn, pay-forward to another generation.

Further reading: True Measure of a Successful Life

Universal Kindness and Compassion

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving

Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude
    

Father's Day 2018

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children: One is roots, the other is wings.
- Hodding Carter

The best inheritance a parent can give his children
is a few minutes of his time each day.
- Orlando A. Battista

Let parents bequeath to their children
not riches, but the spirit of reverence.
- Plato

If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.
- Carl Jung

Every parent is at some time the father of the unreturned prodigal,
with nothing to do but keep his house open to hope.
- John Ciardi

You can never really live anyone else's life,
not even your child's.
The influence you exert is through your own life,
and what you've become yourself.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Nothing you do for a child is ever wasted.
- Garrison Keillor

Further reading: Our Grandchildren's Planet

Feeding the Children

God's Children
     

Pay it Forward - with Gratitude

TODAY, consider performing an act-of-kindness for someone who can never repay you.

Is there someone who will be alone on Thanksgiving unless you share your table with them?

Sometimes our light goes out but
is blown into flame by another human being.
Each of us owes deepest thanks
to those who have rekindled this light.
- Albert Schweitzer

The moment you become miserly you are closed
to the basic phenomenon of life: expansion, sharing.
The moment you start clinging to things,
you have missed the target.
Because things are not the target,
you, your innermost being, is the target -
not a beautiful house, but a beautiful you;
not much money, but a rich you;
not many things, but an open being,
available to millions of things.
- Osho

Pay It Forward.
Gift future generations in proportion to your gratitude.
The nature of life is that we pay forward
our biological creation and nurture.
Our parents gift us with life and nurture,
and we gift our children with life and nurture.
While this much is essential to continued human existence,
choose to take "pay it forward" farther - much farther.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The debt of gratitude we owe our mother and father
goes forward, not backward.
What we owe our parents is the bill presented to us by our children.
- Nancy Friday

Each of us has been generously gifted by parents, teachers, mentors, and others we can never repay. So, in gratitude for what we have received, it is now our turn to generously gift the children, the up-and-coming, and the down-and-out -- with no expectation that they can ever repay us - and with the hope that they will, in turn, pay-forward to another generation.

Further reading: Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving

Universal Kindness and Compassion

True Measure of a Successful Life
    

Mothers' Day 2017

A mother is not a person to lean on,
but a person to make leaning unnecessary.
- Dorothy Canfield Fisher

A mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled.
- Emily Dickinson

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss
at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.
- Honore de Balzac

God could not be everywhere, so he created mothers.
- Jewish Proverb

We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves.
- Henry Ward Beecher

Further reading: Debt of Gratitude

Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving
     

Rekindle the Light

TODAY, consider performing an act-of-kindness for someone who can never repay you.

Is there someone who will be alone on Thanksgiving unless you share your table with them?

Sometimes our light goes out but
is blown into flame by another human being.
Each of us owes deepest thanks
to those who have rekindled this light.
- Albert Schweitzer

The debt of gratitude we owe our mother and father
goes forward, not backward.
What we owe our parents is the bill presented to us by our children.
- Nancy Friday

The moment you become miserly you are closed
to the basic phenomenon of life: expansion, sharing.
The moment you start clinging to things,
you have missed the target.
Because things are not the target,
you, your innermost being, is the target -
not a beautiful house, but a beautiful you;
not much money, but a rich you;
not many things, but an open being,
available to millions of things.
- Osho

Each of us has been generously gifted by parents, teachers, mentors, and others we can never repay. So, in gratitude for what we have received, it is now our turn to generously gift the children, the up-and-coming, and the down-and-out -- with no expectation that they can ever repay us - and with the hope that they will, in turn, pay-forward to another generation.

Pay It Forward.
Gift future generations in proportion to your gratitude.
The nature of life is that we pay forward
our biological creation and nurture.
Our parents gift us with life and nurture,
and we gift our children with life and nurture.
While this much is essential to continued human existence,
choose to take "pay it forward" farther - much farther.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving

Universal Kindness and Compassion

True Measure of a Successful Life
    

Debt of Gratitude

The debt of gratitude we owe our mother and father
goes forward, not backward.
What we owe our parents is the bill presented to us by our children.
- Nancy Friday

Sometimes our light goes out but
is blown into flame by another human being.
Each of us owes deepest thanks
to those who have rekindled this light.
- Albert Schweitzer

Pay It Forward.
Gift future generations in proportion to your gratitude.
The nature of life is that we pay forward
our biological creation and nurture.
Our parents gift us with life and nurture,
and we gift our children with life and nurture.
While this much is essential to continued human existence,
choose to take "pay it forward" farther - much farther.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Each of us has been generously gifted by parents, teachers, mentors, and others we can never repay. So, in gratitude for what we have received, it is now our turn to generously gift the children, the up-and-coming, and the down-and-out -- with no expectation that they can ever repay us - and with the hope that they will, in turn, pay-forward to another generation.

TODAY, consider performing an act-of-kindness for someone who can never repay you.

Is there someone who will be alone on Thanksgiving unless you share your table with them? 

Further reading: Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Universal Kindness and Compassion

Opportunity for Daily Thanksgiving

True Measure of a Successful Life
   

Mothers Day 2015

Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.
- William Makepeace Thackeray

A mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled.
- Emily Dickinson

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss
at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.
- Honoré de Balzac

God could not be everywhere, so he created mothers.
- Jewish Proverb

A mother is not a person to lean on,
but a person to make leaning unnecessary.
- Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Further reading: The #1 Secret of Great Relationships

What is Love?

A Happy Family

What is a Home?

Marriage

Honoring Our Roots

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children
One is roots, the other is wings.
- Hodding Carter

Traditions are the guideposts driven deep in our subconscious minds.
The most powerful ones are those we can't even describe,
aren't even aware of.
- Ellen Goodman

Civilization is not a spontaneous generation
with any race or nation known to history,
but the torch to be handed down from race to race from age to age.
- Kelly Millar

Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches,
letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights.
- Pauline R. Kezer

I prefer to choose which traditions to keep and which to let go.
- Theodore Bikel

All major religious traditions
carry basically the same message,
that is love, compassion and forgiveness.
The important thing is they should
be part of our daily lives.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Honor tradition AND question tradition.
Tradition is like a second-hand store.
It is best to sort carefully between the treasures and the trash.
See everything with new eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Rekindling the Light

A Parent's Gift

Perspective on Tradition: An Open Mind

The Trouble with Conformity

Quotes about Tradition

A Parent's Gift

Let parents bequeath to their children
not riches, but the spirit of reverence.
- Plato

What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us;
what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.
- Albert Pike

To leave the world a better place,
to know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived,
this is to have succeeded.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
- Khalil Gibran

There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul
than the way in which it treats its children.
- Nelson Mandela

Almost nothing you worry about today
will matter in a hundred years.
Think carefully about what you can focus on today.
Choose tasks that will actually make a positive difference
to your great-grandchildren.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: For Our Children

Role Model

Responsibility to Future Generations

The Wisdom of Anne Frank

Don't Stay in a Broken Marriage "For the Children"

Legacy

Children

Parents

The Wisdom of Anne Frank

Anne Frank (1929- 1945) was a Jewish girl who was caught up in the Second World War. From 1942 until 1944 she was in hiding in Amsterdam. During that time she wrote in a diary that was found and published after her death. In 1944, she was captured by the Nazis and taken to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she died of typhus seven months later.

These quotes are from Anne Frank's diary, which she began writing on her 13th birthday:

I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.

I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

No one has ever become poor by giving.

Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.

Whoever is happy will make others happy, too.