Location: Los Angeles, CA
CCARE’s Founder & Director, James R. Doty, M.D., will participate in a Zócalo Public Square series on healthy living. Panelists will discuss the latest in medical science and altruism and what the findings mean for us all.
See event website for more information.
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Wisdom 2.0 Youth
Location: Computer History Museum, 1401 North Shoreline Boulevard, Mountain View, CA
Raising or working with children today is no easy task. Technology pervades our (and their) lives. We struggle to find our own balance, and at the same time navigate their use of cellphones, social networks, and computer games.
Our challenge is to harness the power of technology as parents and educators, while supporting wellness and balance that are essential for a healthy child and a sane society.
Join Wisdom 2.0 Youth September 17th in Silicon Valley for the first ever Wisdom 2.0 Youth Conference. Together we will explore living consciously and supporting wellness, wisdom, and mindfulness in young people today.
Read more or Register today
TEDx Hayward
The theme for this year’s TEDxHayward is Peace Innovation where we cast a spotlight on how technology and emerging social behaviors and insights are promoting new paths to global peace. We hope you will join us, the Stanford Peace Innovation Lab, CSU East Bay Peace Innovation Lab, and Associated Students Inc. of CSU East Bay @ TEDxHayward. Remember to reserve your space (tickets are free!) by clicking on the Tickets link above! http://tedxhayward.org/
Request Dr. Weiss as a Speaker
Leah Weiss, PhD, LCSW
Director of Education
Want Dr. Weiss to be a speaker at your next event? Send her a request below.
Request Dr. Seppala as a Speaker
Emma Seppala, PhD
Associate Director, CCARE
Want Dr. Seppala to be a speaker at your next event? Send her a request below.
Request Dr. Doty as a Speaker
James R. Doty, MD
Director and Founder, CCARE
Adjunct Professor of Neurosurgery, Stanford University
Adjunct Professor of Neurosurgery, Stanford University
Want Dr. Doty to be a speaker at your next event? Send him a request below.
Request a Speaker
Want a member of CCARE to be a speaker at your next event? Send us a request below.
Al’ai Alvarez, MD
Interim Director
Al’ai Alvarez, MD (@alvarezzzy) is a national leader and educator on wellness, diversity, equity, and Inclusion. He is a member of the inaugural cohort of ambassadors for CCARE’s Applied Compassion Training and has successfully completed various other programs, including Compassion Cultivation Training and Awakening Humanity at Work.
• Clinical Professor, Stanford Emergency Medicine (EM)
• Director of Well-Being, Stanford EM
• Co-lead, the Human Potential Team, Stanford EM
• Fellowship Director, Physician Wellness Fellowship, Stanford EM
• Chair, Physician Wellness Forum, Stanford WellMD/WellPhD
• Director, Physician Resource Network (PRN) Support Program, Stanford WellMD/WellPhD [Stanford’s peer-to-peer support for faculty and trainees]
His work focuses on humanizing physician roles as individuals and teams by harnessing the individual human potential in the context of high-performance teams. This includes optimizing the interconnectedness between Process Improvement (Quality and Clinical Operations), Recruitment (Diversity), and Well-being (Inclusion). He is one of the 2021-2022 Faculty Fellows at the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign.
Dr. Alvarez was the assistant/associate residency program director (APD) at the Stanford Emergency Medicine Residency Program [2016-2021], focusing on the intersectionality of residency well-being with performance improvement on patient experience, quality and patient safety, diversity, equity and inclusion, and medical education. Dr. Alvarez co-founded and co-chaired the largest diversity mentoring initiative in Emergency Medicine through ACEP and EMRA.
Dr. Alvarez gives several grand rounds and national/international conference lectures and workshops on relevant topics in self-compassion, physician well-being, and high-performance teams, including increasing leadership capacity and mentorship to enhance diversity and inclusion.
Dr. Alvarez received the 2019 ACEP DIHE Distance and Impact Award, the 2020 Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Academy for Diversity and Inclusion in Emergency Medicine (ADIEM) Outstanding Academician Award, the 2020 CORD Academy for Scholarship in Education in EM Academy Member Award on Teaching and Evaluation, the 2022 John Levin Leadership Award at Stanford Health Care, and the 2024 Physician Leader of the Year of the Sharp Index Awards.
James R. Doty, MD
December 1, 1955 - July 16, 2025
James R. Doty, MD was the founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford, of which His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the founding benefactor. Dr. Doty was a neurosurgeon and neuroscientist who was on the faculty of the Stanford University School of Medicine in the Neurosurgery Department. Most recently, his academic focus was on meditation, compassion, and self-compassion for which he lectured throughout the world.
Dr. Doty attended U.C. Irvine as an undergraduate, received his medical degree from Tulane University and completed neurosurgery residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Dr. Doty served 9 years on active duty in the U.S Army attaining the rank of major. He completed fellowships in pediatric neurosurgery and electroneurophysiology.
He was an inventor, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He held multiple patents and was the former CEO of Accuray (ARAY:NASDAQ). Dr. Doty provided support to a number of charitable organizations supporting peace initiatives and providing healthcare throughout the world. Additionally, he supported research, provided scholarships, and endowed chairs at multiple universities.
Dr. Doty was a consultant to medical device companies and was an operating partner and advisor to venture capital firms. He served on the Board of a number of non-profits and was the vice-chair of the Charter for Compassion International and the former chair of the Dalai Lama Foundation. He was on the Senior Advisory Board of the Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions and served on the Board of Governors of Tulane University School of Medicine and the President’s Council at Tulane University.
James R. Doty, MD was the New York Times bestselling author of Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discovery the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart now translated into 40 languages. Dr. Doty was also the senior editor of the Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science. His final book, Mind Magic: The Neuroscience of Manifestation and How It Changes Everything was published by Penguin Random House in May of 2024.
Peer-Reviewed CCARE Articles
Published Research Supported By CCARE Scientists.
Since its inception, CCARE has supported and collaborated on a number of groundbreaking research projects that have resulted in cross-disciplinary publications on the science of compassion. Below, please find a list of our publications with a summary of their findings.Peer Review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility. In academia peer review is often used to determine an academic paper’s suitability for publication.
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Bayley, P.J., Schulz-Heik, R.J., Tang, J.S., Mathersul, D.C., Avery, T., Wong, M., Zeitzer, J.M., Rosen, C.S., Burn, A.S., Hernandez, B., Lazzeroni, L.C., & Seppälä, E.M. (2022). Randomised clinical non-inferiority trial of breathing-based meditation and cognitive processing therapy for symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in military veterans. BMJ Open. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-056609
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating condition that can develop after exposure to a traumatic event. Symptoms include re-experiencing, avoidance, negative alterations in cognition and mood, and increased arousal and reactivity. The lifetime prevalence of PTSD is estimated at 24.5% in veteran populations. Veterans Affairs (VA)/Department of Defense (DoD) clinical practice guidelines recommend evidence-based, trauma-focused therapies including prolonged exposure therapy, cognitive processing therapy (CPT) and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing as first-line treatments for PTSD. These therapies typically show large effect sizes (>1.0). However, up to two-thirds of individuals retain a PTSD diagnosis post treatment and dropout is a significant problem. Other treatments are urgently needed, and there are compelling reasons for considering complementary and integrative health (CIH) modalities such as yoga and meditation.
CIH interventions can be effective, less stigmatising and are popular. However, a review of the literature reveals several limitations: small–medium effect sizes and methodological concerns regarding controls, small sample sizes, randomisation, blinding and reporting. More high-quality, well-controlled studies are needed.
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Mathersul, D.C., Tang, J.S., Schulz-Heik, R.J., Avery, T.J., Seppala, E.M., & Bayley, P.J. (2019). Study protocol for a non-inferiority randomised controlled trial of SKY breathing meditation versus cognitive processing therapy for PTSD among veterans. BMJ. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027150
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating, highly prevalent condition. Current clinical practice guidelines recommend trauma-focused psychotherapy (eg, cognitive processing therapy; CPT) as the first-line treatment for PTSD. However, while these treatments show clinically meaningful symptom improvement, the majority of those who begin treatment retain a diagnosis of PTSD post-treatment. Perhaps for this reason, many individuals with PTSD have sought more holistic, mind–body, complementary and integrative health (CIH) interventions. However, there remains a paucity of high-quality, active controlled efficacy studies of CIH interventions for PTSD, which precludes their formal recommendation.
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Scarlet, J., Altmeyer, N., Knier, S., & Harpin, R. E. (2017). The effects of Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) on health-care workers. Clinical Psychologist, 21, 116–124. doi:10.1111 /cp.12130
The main objective of this pilot study was to investigate the effects of the Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) on various aspects of burnout and job satisfaction in health-care workers. Specifically, this study sought to investigate whether CCT reduces work-related burnout, interpersonal conflict, as well as increases of mindfulness, compassion toward the self, fears of compassion, and job satisfaction scores.
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Jazaieri, H., McGonigal, K., Lee, I. A., Jinpa, T., Doty, J. R., Gross, J. J., & Goldin, P. R. (2017). Altering the trajectory of affect and affect regulation: The impact of compassion training. Mindfulness. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1007/s12671-017-0773-3
Investigators examined the effects of a compassion training program on affect and affect regulation by implementing a 9-week compassion cultivation training (CCT) program and analyzing four affective states (anxiety, calm, fatigue, alertness) as well as the desire and capability to regulate them. Daily trajectories showed a general decrease in anxiety and an increase in calmness, likely due to participants tending to choose acceptance of the affective experience, regardless of whether they were negative or positive. At the same time, participants also reported more capability in meeting their goals for affective regulation. Over the course of the training program, participants reported greater acceptance in the face of stress and/or anxiety. Implications for the effects of compassion training programs on affective regulation and self-efficacy are discussed.
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Seppala, E. M., Simon-Thomas, E., Brown, S. L., Worline, M. C., Cameron, C. D., & Doty, J. R. (2017). The Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science. Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190464684.001.0001
The first of its kind, this handbook is dedicated to the rapidly growing, evidence-based literature on compassion, altruism, and empathy. Contributed by experts and organized by themes, each chapter presents a multidisciplinary and systematic approach to include basic and clinical research as well as grounded theories and multiple perspectives to understanding the neurobiological, developmental, evolutionary, social, and clinical applications of compassion science. Bridging gaps among multiple disciplines, this handbook will serve as a valuable reference to further build upon and understand the foundation of compassion science to guide basic and applied research.
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Genevsky, A., & Knutson, B. (2015). Neural affective mechanisms predict market-level microlending. Psychological Science, 26(9), 1411-1422. doi:10.1177/0956797615588467
Researchers investigate the neural mechanisms in which microloans receive approval based on the elicitation of positive affect by applicant’s photographs in two separate studies: one internet and the other a neuroimaging study. The internet study showed that positive affect in applicant photographs promoted loan success. The neuroimaging study further extended the internet findings by showing lender’s active regions in the brain where positive emotions are closely associated with, the nucleus accumbens, as well as self-reported positive affect by lenders who approved loans for those applicants who had high ratings of eliciting positive emotions. Implications for the role of affective neuroscience in microlending success and market-level behaviors are discussed.
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Jazaieri, H., Lee, I. A., McGonigal, K., Jinpa, T., Doty, J. R., Gross, J. J., & Goldin, P. (2015). A wandering mind is a less caring mind: Daily experience sampling during compassion meditation training. Journal of Positive Psychology. doi:10.1080/17439760.2015.1025418
The effects of the Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) program, a 9-week, twice daily compassion meditation, was found to reduce mind wandering towards neutral thoughts and increased caring behaviors for oneself. Further path analysis indicated that compassion meditation was associated with reduced mind wandering for unpleasant thoughts and increased mind wandering to pleasant thoughts, and that both were associated with increased caring behavior for oneself and others. This is the first known study to lend partial support that formal compassion training reduces mind wandering while increasing caring behavior not only for oneself but also for others.
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Neff, K. D., & Seppala, E. M. (2016). Compassion, well-being, and the hypoegoic self. In K. W. Brown & M. Leary (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Hypo-egoic Phenomena. Theory and Research on the Quiet Ego (pp. 189-202). Oxford University Press.
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Seppala, E. M., Hutcherson, C. A., Nguyen, D. T. H., Doty, J. R., & Gross, J. J. (2014). Loving-kindness meditation: A tool to improve healthcare provider compassion, resilience, and patient care. Journal of Compassionate Healthcare. doi:10.1186/s40639-014-0005-9
Stress and burnout is prevalent in the healthcare industry. Numerous research focused on reducing these strains on healthcare professionals can be time-consuming and intensive. Thus, this study sought to investigate the effectiveness of a short, 10- minute compassion-inducing intervention, lovingkindness meditation (LKM), to attempt to address this obvious disconnected need for a short, non-intensive, and effective intervention. LKM was compared to a positive affect induction (self-focus) and a neutral control condition. Ten minutes of LKM showed increased explicit as well as implicit levels of well-being and feelings of social connection to others and decreased focus on the self. Implications for decreasing burnout and improving patient care is discussed.
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Martin, D., Seppala, E., Heineberg, Y., Rossomando, T., Doty, J., Zimbardo, P., Shiue, T.-T., Berger, R., & Zhou, Y. Y. (2015). Multiple facets of compassion: The impact of social dominance orientation and economic systems justification. Journal of Business Ethics, 129(1), 237-249. doi:10.1007/s10551-014-2157-0
Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) is a hierarchical worldview that ascribes people to social rankings and is often found in high levels among business school students. To establish the relationship between individual differences in compassion, SDO, and free ESJ (Economic Systems Justification), partial correlations were run controlling for social desirability to response bias. As anticipated, a significant correlation between ESJ and SDO was established. Significant correlations between SDO and low levels of Self-Compassion supported the hypotheses that those with higher levels of SDO have lower levels of self-compassion.
History
CCARE was envisioned by Dr. James Doty, a Stanford neurosurgeon, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Dr. Doty had a longstanding interest in the fundamental motivations of individuals to do good. He originated the concept of a rigorous multi-disciplinary scientific effort at Stanford directed at understanding the neural, mental, and social bases of compassion and altruism, and he provided the initial funding for the endeavor.
This interest was further spurred by the historic visit by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Stanford University in October of 2005, a visit hosted by the Stanford School of Medicine, through the leadership of Dean Philip A. Pizzo, and the Stanford Office of Religious Life, headed by Rev. Scotty McLennan. A high point of this visit was a dialogue between the Dalai Lama and Stanford scientists from the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and medicine. This dialogue, moderated by Dr. William Mobley, former Professor of Neurology and former Director of the Stanford Neurosciences Institute, had the important consequence of recognizing that a deep engagement between science, especially in the cognitive science disciplines of neuroscience and psychology, and Buddhism and other contemplative traditions could make significant contribution towards a deeper understanding of many important aspects of the human mind and emotion.
Recognizing the historic nature of the initial dialogue held at Stanford between scientists and the Dalai Lama, Dr. Doty organized an informal group of individuals with similar interests to further explore these areas. Subsequently, he provided the funding for Dr. Thupten Jinpa, a noted contemplative scholar and translator to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, to come to Stanford as a Visiting Scholar and join Project Compassion as the principal contemplative scholar. As the group expanded, it became evident that there was serious interest in formalizing what was informally called “Project Compassion.”
With the encouragement of Dr. Mobley and Dr. Gary Steinberg, Chairman of Neurosurgery and Director of the Stanford Institute of Neuro-Innovation and Translational Neurosciences, Dean Pizzo created The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford (CCARE). Thus, CCARE came into being with Dr. Doty as Director, Dr. Mobley (who has since left Stanford to work as Chair of Neuroscience at UCSD) as Co-Director, and Mr. Tenzin Tethong (Distinguished Scholar, Tibetan Studies Initiative at Stanford) and Dr. Steinberg serving as members of the founding Executive Committee.
Courses
Learn to develop the qualities of compassion, empathy and kindness for oneself and for others lorem
Videos
Research
In addition to original research, CCARE promotes research on compassion through small grants, postdoctoral fellowships, conferences on compassion, and a science of compassion summer research institute.
Current compassion research projects funded by and in collaboration with CCARE
Published research articles by CCARE scientists
Press
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Branson’s B Team – Show Me Numbers!
Written by David Erasmus. Branson posted yesterday about his intentions for his B Team, a high velocity group of people including Arianna who have a real shot at helping us reshape our expectations of business in society. Branson writes…. “We will addr …
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Stanford Rolls Out Compassion Cultivation Training
Written by Sara Schairer. The Dalai Lama is now touring through the United States until May 21st, 2013 with the next stop in Portland at Maitripa College on May 7. I personally have a special affinity for his presence, as I’m nearing the end of the ina …
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Can Meditative Breathing Relieve PTSD Symptoms for Vets?
Written by Rebecca Ruiz. Post-traumatic stress disorder is one of the signature wounds of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; according to one estimate, as many as 20 percent of the service members who were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan have the psychiatr …
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The Question that Ends Tension
How Compassion and Being Present to End Tension from First for Women magazine. For the first part of the article, click here. For the second part of the article, click here.
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Compassion and the Bottom Line
Written by Michael Kinsman. Compassion isn’t a word that is easily digested in the business world. More often, we like to define our businesses as results-oriented, hard-driving and able to steamroll any obstacles that stand in the way of an objective. …
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The Promise of Yoga-Based Treatments to Help Veterans with PTSD
Written by Michelle Brandt. A close friend recently told me about the post-traumatic stress disorder research of Stanford’s Emma Seppala, PhD, whom she knows from the yoga community in Madison, Wisc. (Seppela did her postdoctoral work there.) It was am …
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Breathing Exercises Help Veterans Find Peace After War
Written by Brooke Donald. Post-traumatic stress disorder affects about one in five veterans, and traditional treatments that can include medication and therapy only relieve symptoms in about half of those who seek it, experts say. But new research by S …
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Compassion Will Make You Happy
Marketing executives want us to believe that happiness lies in a product that will taste delicious, magically fill our bank accounts, or transform us into a supermodel that looks not a day past 20. Our social norms promise that happiness will lie in st …
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Compassion, the Workplace, and Leadership
Written by John Ballard, Ph.D. When we list leadership characteristics, compassion is probably not first on the list, or even on the list, but perhaps it should be. Emma Seppala has an excellent article on compassion in the May/June issue of theObserve …
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Offra Gerstein, Relationship Matters: The Wonders of Altruism
Written by Offra Gerstein. The recent acts of heroism seen immediately following the Boston Marathon explosions may have rekindled our public amazement at the courage of untrained strangers who put themselves at risk to aid others. What is the source o …
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How the Stress of Disaster Brings People Together
Written by Emma Seppala, Ph.D. Ever feel that stress makes you more cranky, hot-headed or irritable? For men in particular, we think of stress as generating testosterone-fueled aggression – thus instances of road rage, or the need to “blow off steam” a …
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Business and Compassion
Written by Paula Pyne. I just returned from The San Francisco Bay area where I attended the inaugural Business events-science-of-compassion-conference-thumb2and Compassion Conference at Stanford University, School of Medicine. It was hosted by CCARE, t …
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Stanford Center Highlights the Benefits of Compassionate Workplaces
Written by Brooke Donald. The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford brought together leaders in business and academia to talk about the role of compassion in business. The latest research suggests that a more compassiona …
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On Grudges and Forgiveness
Written by Jayanth Narayanan, PhD. One of the most difficult things to do when we feel wronged upon is to forgive those who have inflicted harm on us. Great leaders are able to channel such anger to bring about social change. In fact the very reason wh …
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International Compassion Summit Launches Year-Long Effort in Anticipation of a Visit by the Dalai Lama
Written By Karen Armstrong. The 2013 International Summit Conference on Compassionate Organizations will bring an international group of representatives together on May 16th through the 18th to Louisville, Kentucky in anticipation of a visit by the Dal …
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Boston Marathon’s Heroes and the Science Behind Compassion
Written by Tamarra Kemsley. The acts of heroism seen even within seconds of the detonation of the bombs at Boston Marathon included people who seemed to utterly forget fear for their own wellbeing in order to protect that of others. However, Tuesday’s …
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Compassion Important for Our Survival
Written by Agneta Lagercrantz. James Doty, the son of an alcoholic, became a neurosurgeon and founded a research center for compassion and altruism at Stanford, USA. At 13, his life changed – thanks to a woman who taught him positive thinking. Follow o …
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Compassion and Business?
Written by Scott Kriens. When first asked to speak at the upcoming Compassion and Business conference, I was struck by how seldom we hear those two words in the same sentence. Why? I think it’s because we think of compassion too abstractly, and we’re p …
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Sustaining Compassion in Health Care
Written by Robert McClure. As demands on health care providers increase, compassion becomes more difficult to sustain. But a new training holds the promise of helping them meet those challenges. After 30 years in health care, I was ready to retire. But …
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Mainstream Media Missing Mark on Mind-Body Medicine
LOS ALTOS, CA, February 21, 2013 – Dr. James Doty is a world-class neurosurgeon and professor at Stanford University. He’s an inventor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who supports a number of global health initiatives; a member of the Board of Direct …
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How to Turn Gang Members into Ex-Gang Members
Written by Bonnie Tsui. What is it that finally makes a gang member renounce his violent ways? Or a former Hamas extremist turn to reconciliation instead of suicide bombs? The answers are remarkably similar, based on a recent study from researchers at …
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The Magic of Compassion Science
Written by Janis Daddona. Have you ever sat down with your doctor and talked about your brain—heart to heart? Neither have I. But that’s exactly what happened in our Forest Call with Dr. James Doty. Apparently he is capable of living several lives si …
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Surviving PTSD: Helping Your Military Loved Ones Get the Help They Need
Written by Ericka Souter. It’s frightening to watch a loved one go off to war, but what many military families have discovered is that another battle begins once they return home. Nearly 30 percent of the 834,463 soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghani …
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What’s Your Meme? Changing the Climate Change Conversation
What’s the counterpoint to “Drill, baby, drill”? In the emerging field of meme science, researchers try to figure out what language and ideas resonate when it comes to the warming of the planet.
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Mitt Romney, Man of Compassion?
Somewhere between his traditional social circle and the broader world — a place inhabited by strangers whose jobs might require elimination in pursuit of profit — Romney seems to lose emotional regard for the troubles of others
About
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
Pay it Forward Parties
When Paige McCarthy begin planning her annual dinner party for a small group of friends, she knew she wanted to create something unique, something with lasting impact. “I was really interested in how I could make something bigger out of the little that I have and create a good experience for everyone,” says McCarthy, a Portland, Ore., advertising executive.
Could she, McCarthy wondered, create an entire party around the notion of doing good deeds for others as payback for those received? That question sparked her to create a Pay It Forward Party, which, in the course of a few hours, transformed a small dinner party into a life-changing event for the guests and people throughout the community.
Preparing to give
The Pay It Forward philosophy was popularized in a book by Catherine Ryan Hyde in 2000, and in a subsequent movie. Yet, the idea has been around since the days of Ancient Greece when a play first talked of the concept of passing on kind acts. Benjamin Franklin wrote about it too, in a letter drafted in the late 1700s.
But, on that night in November 2010, McCarthy’s dinner guests knew little about what she had in store. After they arrived at her home, each of the four couples received $100 and partial instructions, plucked like leaves from a centerpiece cleverly designed as a giving tree. When combined with the instructions of the other guests, the group discovered that they were to use the money to help others.
To read the full article, click here.