FRUiTBLENDERZ Podcast
𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆, 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚. 𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔.
FRUiTBLENDERZ Podcast
Pay it Forward!
We explore why paying it forward is a powerful way to lift others while also improving mood, reducing stress, and strengthening self-worth. Science, stories, and simple practices show how small acts of kindness can become a sustaining habit.
• definition and purpose of paying it forward
• mental health benefits including helper’s high
• dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin explained
• kindness without money or donations
• building a habit of compassion over time
• practical low-cost ways to help
• personal story of aiding a stranger
• gratitude for the people who helped us
• reminder to act during the season of giving
“Remember to thank every single individual who has helped you in your life, who has paid it forward, and now you need to do a little favor. You need to go pay it forward.”
Paying it forward is more than a feel-good slogan; it is a practical mindset that shifts attention from our own stress to the needs of others, creating real benefits for both sides. The idea is simple: when someone helps you, or when you feel moved to act, you extend kindness to another person without expecting repayment. This episode explores how those small choices build emotional resilience, deepen community ties, and even change brain chemistry. We emphasize that it is valid to focus on yourself when overwhelmed, yet a brief, intentional act for someone else can puncture the fog of worry. Think of it as a quick reset that reorients your mind toward connection, meaning, and momentum.
There is strong evidence for a “helper’s high,” a measurable lift in mood linked to neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin. These chemicals light up reward pathways, which is why a kind act often leaves you smiling and relaxed after the fact. That shift can feel immediate: a lighter chest, easier breath, less rumination. Over time, this translates into lower stress, with studies associating prosocial behavior with reduced cortisol levels. While one good deed will not erase hardship, it can soften the edges of a rough day and make it easier to tackle what comes next. The emotional return is both personal and social, because your calm and warmth circulate outward.
Importantly, kindness is not a synonym for spending money. Many people tune out when they hear “donations,” assuming they lack the resources to be generous. But helpful acts include calling a friend, writing a note of thanks, holding a door, offering directions, or giving someone a few minutes of your attention. These gestures cost little and still deliver meaningful impact. They validate someone’s dignity, interrupt their loneliness, and remind both of you that connection exists at arm’s length. The smallest acknowledgment—saying thank you, you’re welcome, or excuse me—can reset a moment and restore civility in shared spaces.
Kindness also compounds. Like music or strength training, repetition builds fluency. Each time you respond with patience or offer a hand, you reinforce a mental pathway that makes compassionate action more automatic. That habit reduces decision fatigue in tense moments and makes empathy your default. Over weeks and months, the benefits stack: your stress responses mellow, your self-image strengthens, and you start to spot opportunities to help that you once missed. This is how a culture of generosity grows—one quick, repeatable practice at a time, modeled in daily life.
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Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and good night wherever you are and however you are listening. Welcome to Fruit Blenders Podcast. On this episode, we will be discussing paying it forward and what it means to pay forward. So paying it forward is an expression for when the representative of an act of kindness does something kind for someone else rather than simply accepting or repaying the original good deed. So it's about a person, person's kindness to oneself by being kind to somebody else. I will take the support I have had and try to pay it forward whenever I can. Listen, there's a lot of ways to pay forward. Paying it forward can do a lot, and it can benefit a lot of people in many ways. It just doesn't have to be about money, paying for things, doing this, doing this, just do something kind for somebody. Just do something kind. I mean, there's reasons why you should pay it forward. Because not a lot of people are having a good day, a good night, a good um, you know, a good uh you know that they never had a good day at work or anything. It could be anything, they could be stressing out, going through something that we all don't know. But when you become kind to somebody and pay it forward, there's a lot that could come back to you in a positive way. And remind you, tis the season of giving. But when you're feeling overwhelmed and you're struggling with your mental health, the reality is that you're probably not making much about other people, you're not thinking much about other people, and that's totally fine. It's fine, it's not selfish to focus on yourself when you need to most, you know, when you need to do it the most, but taking a little bit time and doing something for someone else can potentially help how you're feeling. Number one, I'd say when you do something good for somebody, our brain reacts to it in a certain way. The chemicals in our brains they can change. If you've ever done something kind for someone else, you probably know the you know the euphoric feeling. You pass it forward afterwards. You know, you you smile, your facial expression changes, you did something good for somebody, the weight gets off your shoulder. There's actually a name for that, it's called Helper's High. And researchers show that when you help someone, there's a process that happens in your brain that releases serotonin, dopamine, and oxytoxin. The feel-good chemicals. So the reward of your you know the center of your brain is kicked started, and you get rush endorphins, and it makes you feel happier, makes you feel great. Two, you can give in so many different ways, nothing has to come out of your pocket. The act of kindness can sometimes mean giving your time and money. Hey, donations, hey, sometimes people will take donations, and that can steer a lot of people away. But there's a lot of studies that show hey, acts of kindness don't need to include face-to-face interactions or monetary donations at all. While those larger actions can still have their own unique benefits, you're still improving your mental health by just calling someone you love or saying thank you to a stranger. In my life, I've learned two things. Be respectful and be kind. Always say thank you and you're welcome. Also, excuse me, don't forget about excuse me. When there's somebody in your way, always say excuse me, thank you, you're welcome. Number three, kindness builds on itself. Remember that. If you think of uh you know compassion like music, you gotta dance to the rhythm. If you think of about you know your muscles, every time you do something for someone else that stretches the muscle a little bit more, and acts of kindness, you know, it gets easier. It's like music, just dance to it, you know, let your juices flow. It can actually become an instinct to respond to others in a helpful, kind, compassionate way. So you start to reap the benefits of kindness more and more often with less effort. Let's be real here. Um, we all stress, everybody stresses out, everybody's gonna do something, you know, and there's nothing you can do about it unless you change the script, flip it around. Studies have found that people who show kindness and concern for others had a 23% lower level of you know cortisol, so the stress hormone compared to the average population, you've got a natural stress reliever just by showing compassion for someone else. That's it, joy, happy, kindness, it changes how you view yourself. It does, it does the minute you walk away from what you have to pay forward, it changes how you view yourself. Because studies show that random acts of kindness can also improve your feelings of self-esteem and self-worth. You know how much you're worth, so you're gonna have to pass, you're gonna have to pay it forward because not a lot of people have much, so the other person can have less, or they're struggling and they need help. And um, some people also report a stronger sense of meaning and purpose after acting out of compassion, you know. It it has been reported that, so be kind, get out there, do something nice for somebody, break the neighbors' leaves, or mow the lawn, or walk the walk somebody across the street, share some books, anything, anything kind. Also, just remember that when you pay it forward, it gets you out of your head, out of your own head. If only for the one selfish, selfless moment, I should say, your mind isn't worried, stressed, sad, angry, whatever it may be. Instead, you're focused on what you're doing for someone else. In those minutes, your brain will be thinking about the good things that you are doing for something outside of your you know, outside of yourself, your comfort zone. And the connections, the connections you're making, let's talk about that, the connections you're making with other people. The good stuff starts immediately. This isn't one of the best things where you have to put in serious effort before you see results. Paying it forward can benefit you. The second you act with compassion, you'll start to feel better intensely. You will. So I have a few stories, but I'm only gonna, you know, tell you guys a few. Just uh one or two or three maybe. So there was one day where my uh cousin came uh came out here, flew from Oregon, and uh, you know, we spent a lot of time together. We did. We did, we spent a lot of time together. And um one day, you know, we just decided, hey, if we're gonna go somewhere, let's think about because I don't wanna, you know, I don't I don't wanna drive you all over the place, or I don't want to walk all over the place, but and I don't want to do too much because you're a guest in my state, and I want to make sure that you're comfortable, and I don't wanna make you tired because we got a lot of activities to do, anyways, so why risk it, right? So when he came out here one day we're like, hey, you know what? Let's just there's a corner store up the street that we can go grab some you know supplies or whatnot. And he said, Okay, so we were walking, and uh, we see this guy, this this um elderly citizen in a wheelchair, and um he's trying to go backwards with his wheelchair from a steep hill. He's going up, but the hill's steep. Just by the airport, Salt Lake City Airport, right by there, that steep hill that leads down all the way to the holiday gas station or loves, I should say, yeah, loves, loves. And me and him are walking, we see this guy struggling. We don't know who he is. I don't know who he is for sure. I don't know who he is, it's just a stranger. I'm sure he's kind, he's got things going on, but we're not worried about where he's going, what's going on, what he's going through. We're just worried about how he's gonna get there. Well, I'm worried about how he's gonna get there. So I ask him Actually, I don't even ask him anything. Um I see him struggling, I just take my hands, place him on a wheelchair, boom, I'm pushing him up all the way to the hill. And I ask him, I'm asking him personal questions, like you know, getting to know him and hey, where you from? What are you doing out here? Where are you trying to go? He's like, Oh, you know, lost my house, this and that. I don't have my family down here, everybody's upstairs in Towilla. I'm like, whoa, you're out here with a wheelchair in Salt Lake City? You trying to go to Towilla, you're trying to hitchhike to Towilla? He's like, Yeah, you know, and I didn't get nothing. I didn't I didn't get way too personal about a lot of things, but we spoke, we had a decent conversation. Anyways, you know, he's like, hey, you're kind, you're kinda gent you're a kind gentleman, and um, I don't know, I don't know who you are, what can I do for you? I'm like, yeah, nothing. You don't gotta do nothing. I just this is out of courtesy, this is out of kindness, and I love helping people out. That's the one thing about me, is I love helping people out. I may have my own problems, but I always have a time to help somebody else. I love it. I'm a people's person. And um, so me and this gentleman, we have that conversation, and my um my cousins look at me like, damn, like man, um, dude, did you just do that? I was like, yeah. He's like, why'd you do it? I don't know. I don't know, it just something just told me that I had to help this gentleman out. So my cousin was so proud of me, he's like, yo, man, you inspire me. You really do inspire me sometimes. You're full of surprises. I never thought you would help somebody, a stranger that you don't even know. I'm like, hey man, this is what we do, this is what our family does. We help people. So he was very proud of me, and he felt inspired and motivated. He's like, Thank you. I'm like, Yeah, you're welcome, man. It's not that much, that's what I can do right now. Well, anyways, yeah, like I have a lot of stories that where I help a dozen of people, and when you do help people without even paying a price, it really does feel like you've done something great. I was sm I was happy that day. I really was happy that day. I dropped everything. My shoulders were loose, the weight was off my shoulders. I was smiling, I felt good about myself, I just did the right thing. And yeah, when you do something good for somebody else, it pays a lot. In upcoming days, upcoming weeks, months, years, it's gonna come back to you because you did something great for somebody. Just remember that. Also, just because you don't have the funds, the right donations, the vehicle, the house, the shelter, whatever it may be, the food, doesn't mean that you can't pay it forward. He can always pay it forward. Okay, we as humans, as one race, we must come together, we must make each other better. And I just want to say thank you to all those people. Whether we had whether whether we ended up on bad terms or good terms, I just want to say thank you for being in my life and always trying to help me out. It may not show that I didn't care, but I do. I appreciate it. I really do appreciate your time. I appreciate the help you've given me, the times you know you've fed me, the times you give me rides, the times you've vented to me or let me vent to you. Thank you to those who've who whom I've been around. Even the guys know. Thank you. Thank you. Everybody in my in my circle, thank you so much for taking care of me one of the days I needed help. One of the times I had no place to go. Thank you. I want to wrap it up here. But remember to thank every single individual who has helped you in your life, who has paid it forward, and now you need to do a little favor. You need to go pay it forward. It is the month of giving, it's the holidays, but hey, you don't always have to give, give, give, give in the during the holidays. You can always give somebody. Doesn't even have to have a price on it, just pay it forward. That's all it takes. Anyways, ladies and gents, I'm gonna go ahead and uh wrap it up here. Um, thank you everyone for listening and for tuning in. I just wanted to uh you know spread some positive things, paint it forward. Let's not forget about that. Paint it forward, always paint forward. Thank you. Like I always leave you. I appreciate you for your time. I appreciate I appreciate you for listening. Thank you for tuning in. You have a great day, great night, great explain time with your family. Enjoy your friends, enjoy your pets, everything, whatever you got. Enjoy and don't forget to be thankful. Okay, pay it forward, pay that back. Thank you for tuning in.