An Equation for Magical Questions
Question of the Day.
My kids brought home a practice from their school called Question of the Day.
“What’s your favorite cake ingredient?” is my almost-four-year-old’s current go-to. A few nights ago, my husband suggested an upgrade during our little family dinner: Question of the Year. My son got very excited: What’s your favorite animal?! (As an animal lover, he could think of nothing more exciting than getting to choose amongst his Encyclopedic knowledge of porpoises and ring-tailed lemurs and emperor penguins to help reflect on a full year’s lived experiences. For the rest of us, less so.)
In trying to help him see why it wasn’t *exactly* a great question for the four of us in this moment, I explained it in this way: A question is good for a group when it’s both interesting to each person to answer and each person would be curious to hear everyone else’s response.
He could see that the “animal” question might be great for his three besties, but maybe not for his less informed family.
As you gather (or perhaps don’t gather) at this tail end of 2021, I wish you a time of beautiful questions, and finding the right questions for the people you’re with in this moment.
The questions we landed on: What were your favorite moments of 2021 and what do you want to learn in 2022?
Looking for more practical lessons and templates to help you plan your next gathering? Let’s go deeper together with The Art of Gathering Digital Course.
