What was good on your day? What did you do good on your day?

While still living in Brazil, working in an advertising agency, I used to take a feel rides a week to work with one of my managers at the time. Today, Dani is a dear friend of mine.

During those rides, often longer than they should be because of São Paulo’s chaotic traffic, there was plenty of time for nice talks.

In one of those days, she picked me up close to my house and a few moments later, there we were, stuck in traffic again… We were talking about something I can’t remember now, but at some point our conversation led her to tell me about the dinner she had the night before.

She was in a restaurant with her boyfriend, and, close to their table, there was a father having dinner with his son. My friend’s table was close enough to theirs so she could clearly hear what they were talking about and it caught her attention.

In a natural conversation, probably because they were used to talk like that daily, the father asked the son “What was good on your day today?”. The son answered he had time to play with his friends after school and he had lots of fun. Then, it was the son’s turn to ask his father about what was good on his day. The father said he had a really productive day at work and he didn’t get too much traffic to get to the restaurant that evening. After that, the father asked his son the question which is the reason I’m telling you this story and it was the reason Dani told me by then. He asked: “What did you DO GOOD today?”

Not surprised with the question, in a spontaneous way, the son told him he was able to help a friend with the assignment during class and he was happy he could help someone that day.

The conversation followed between them also with the son asking his father what he had done good that day and the father telling him about his experiences.

After my friend finished telling me the story, she was thrilled and absolutely touched with this simple yet beautiful dialogue she had witnessed. And so was I. We realized how things would be better around us - and maybe in the world - if more people, including ourselves, asked themselves this same question more often: What did I do good today?

This memory came back to my mind and inspired me to write it down when, during a workshop last year I was presented to this quote:

"The total amount of happiness that exists in the world has come from wanting to make others happy. The total amount of suffering that exists in the world has come from wanting to make yourself happy." (Master Shantideva)

Maybe we should think a bit more often about doing good to others rather than seeking mostly our own happiness.