In a book called Magnificent Obsession, by Lloyd C．Douglas, a description is given of people helping others but doing it secretly.When difficult problems worried an individual, friends nearby would meet to discuss possible solution without the individual knowing their actions.When a solution was agreed upon, one or two of the friends would carry out the plan and solve the problems secretly, to the great delight of the worried individual.The helpers would stand by privately, contented with their success. No reward was given to the problem solvers, not even a sincere “thank you”, because they were never known.

This concept is popular today but in a different way.The phrase “pay it forward” is now used when one person helps another. However, the person being helped may not be able to repay the person or group that helped them.So rather than return the favor to their helpers, they are supposed to help someone else in the future, which means they pay it forward.It is the sense of responsibility that makes us want to give back in equal measure to the one who has helped us. But, in this case, the responsibility turns to helping someone in the future.

Suppose your elderly grandmother pays part of your schooling.She may tell you there is no need to repay her because it is a gift from someone who loves you very much.Nothing would please her more than to have you use her money to get a good education.

You may never be able to repay her for such a gift. However, she not only gave you some money, but she provided you with an example that you should also help other people who need it.

People with serious needs are everywhere.Many are children who need better clothes, more books and even better schools.Some are elderly people who can’t afford their medicine or a doctor’s care.Consider how you can “pay it forward”rather than pay money back to your grandmother.

Dossantos grew up among the banana trees of East Timor, a state in Maritime Southeast Asia, and never imagined he would work on Australian farms.

Last week he was picking pumpkins (南瓜) out of the rich red Ord valley soils of Ivanhoe Farms in Western Australia’s far north, working with five other East Timorese employees in Kununurra’s 381℃heat.

Dossantos is part of a group of 30 East Timorese in the area for six months as seasonal workers, laboring (劳动) on smaller fruit and vegetable farms that were part of Ord stage one, developed in the 1970s. The men are employed by happy farmers across the Ord valley, many of whom have struggled, in the past with their dependence on not always reliable backpackers to plant their crops on time and pick full-grown I fruit and vegetables.

Dossantos is typical of the group; he speaks little English, has worked on farms in East Timor and wants to earn an Australian salary (工资) for four to six months before returning home late this month as the wet season arrives, to build a better life.

“It’s a good job; hard work and hot but with good money,” Dossantos says. “I work for four months, send my money back to Mom and Dad and then go home; it’s enough to last me for the next six months and then I hope to come back here again to work next year.”

Itis music to the ears of Matt and Melanie Gray, who have had up to 12 East Timorese workers picking pumpkins on their Ceres Farm for the past few months.

Like many growers in the Ord, the Grays welcomed the opportunity this year to employ full-time visiing East

When a friend comes to you after a stressful day, how do you comfort them? Do you let them complain? Do you pour them a glass of wine? Those could work. But a new study finds that a very effective technique is also simple and easy — hugging.

Michael Murphy is a psychology expert at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He wanted to know if people who received hugs regularly could handle stress and conflict belief. " Individuals who report perceiving the availability of a network of supportive individuals lead to show better adaptation when faced with stress. But your just having a support network does not mean that you definitely feel that support, he said. "So some researchers have argued that many of the behaviors we use to support others who are stressed might actually be counterproductive, because   behaviors might unintentionally communicate to others that they're not able to manage stress."   he added.

Murphy and his team interviewed 404 men and women every evening for two weeks. During these interviews, the participants were asked a simple yes — or — no question — whether somebody had hugged them that day — and a simple yes or no question of whether they had experienced conflict or tension with somebody that day.

They also were asked questions about their social interactions — how many social，interactions they had that day and responded to questions about negative and positive mood states . And the researchers found that individuals who experienced a conflict were not as negatively affected if they received a hug that day as were participants who experienced conflict and didn't get a hug. Murphy and his team also saw that people who received a hug didn't carry the negative effect to the next day, while those who did not receive a hug would. The findings are in the journal PLOS ONE.

Murphy does include this warning: "So our findings should not be taken as evidence that people should just start hugging anyone and everyone who seems distressed. A hug from one boss at work or a stranger on the street could be viewed as neither agreeable nor positive. " The idea is to relieve stress. Not add to it.