The Kindness of a Question

"Research has shown that the best way to be happy is to make each day happy."
~ Deepak Chopra

I have a special friend and professional colleague who lives in Norway.  The other day, she posed a question to me via e-mail:  "What is one small thing you did that made you happy yesterday?"  Because this friend of mine is both wise and thoughtful, I immediately wanted to tackle the question.

At first, and ever the A-seeking student, I must confess I felt a sense of panic -- Yikes, what did I do yesterday?  But that gave way to reviewing my day in search of happiness nuggets.  I found it interesting how the smallest things made me happy.  The tiniest one was a scent -- the smell of a baby shampoo that I used when my children were little.  And, of course, I could not stop with identifying one thing; I wanted to identify more.  I realized that for me, human interaction is very meaningful, so a conversation with a friend whom I always find hilarious found its way to my list.  A business call made the list because I found it intellectually engaging.  And a light moment of laughter and silliness with my children also made me happy.  Doing yoga would have been on my list -- had I managed to do it the day before.  But I did practice the day my friend asked me and I immediately thought of that.

My friend's question gave way to another one for me:  What does it take to get us to those moments of happiness?  That requires more thought.

I am grateful to my friend for her kindness in asking such a thought-provoking question.  I leave the same question with you:  What is one small thing that you did that made you happy yesterday?