On National Pay It Forward Day, people are encouraged to give to others and pass on some love and smiles. You can do this by paying for someone’s meal, saying nice words or even giving a hug.

I got to watch the concept of Pay It Forward happen on campus this afternoon. My friend Janel is in a positive psychology course here at KU, and they spent their class today, paying it forward. It made sense to me that a positive psychology class would go out of their way to make someone’s day.

Her class of around 80 students spread out across campus doing small acts of kindness that can make a big difference in someone’s life. I personally got a rice crispy treat that told me I was awesome. Other students were handing out candy, bagels and coupons. Janel waved around a big sign that offered free hugs.

While a few passersby tried to ignore the group or just gave them a weird looks, lots of students thought the idea was pretty cool. And let’s be honest, college students like free stuff.

One class took Pay It Forward to campus. Who knows how many of those people they interacted with went back to their house and continued the chain.

How am I paying it forward? Well, this little blog is a shout out to Janel to thank her for the great afternoon, and maybe by writing a blog post about National Pay It Forward Day, I inspire one of you to Pay It Forward. You can Pay It Forward every day though, don’t limit yourself to one day.

If you are looking for ideas on how you could Pay It Forward check out the website. And after you Pay It Forward, comment below to tell me what you did. I’d love to hear!