Every night for five years my dad would ask my mother, brother, sister and me the same question:
So, what was the best part of your day?
We’d spend the next 10 minutes sharing stories and he and mum would sit patiently, listening and smiling.
Sometimes we’d tease him for always asking the same question, but mostly we’d take this exercise very seriously, thinking long and hard about what really was the best part of any given day.
The lessons I see in retrospect are wise and threefold:
- Reflecting on the positive is akin to practicing the gratitude. It changes the lens through which we view the world. No matter how bad your day has been, it’s always worth searching for the one good part.
- The power of asking a question and holding space, uninterrupted, for people to respond cannot be overstated.
- Good questions deserve to be pondered repeatedly. See here, here and here for more inspiration.