Do good, and the universe will reward you

"Do good, and the universe will reward you."

This is a well-known saying, isn't it?

It's also one of the basic principles of virtue.

When you do good around you, you also do good for the whole, so your actions benefit the whole.

The most important thing isn't to become vain and seek praise, because that would satisfy your ego. Do good with discretion and humility. Consider the good you do as a "duty", an   "appropriate action" and don't expect anything in return.

Look at nature {{username}}:

The sun warms us and provides plants with the energy they need to grow, without being asked to do anything. Fruit trees produce edible fruit without being asked, bees honey without being asked.

What can we do for the common good without being asked?

Not much, really,
if not acting according to your cardinal values,
if not acting with virtue,
if not adjusting your Guiding Principal to the common good.

Nature gives without waiting, only the natural cycle of things provides for its needs.
You too give without waiting, contributing to the natural cycle, like a person who knows how to be part of a whole.

Give a coin to a beggar without taking pride in a good deed;
take time to help a colleague without expecting anything in return;
present your ideas and share your knowledge without being arrogant or wanting to be right.

Share, but don't expect anything.
Don't expect anything.

Be completely
disinterested
about what you get in return.

Marcus Aurelius:
“When you have done good and another has been its object,
why do you require a third thing besides,
like the foolish
—to be thought to have done good or to get a return?” ¹

“For when you have done good, what more, oh man, do you wish?
Is it not enough that what you did was in agreement with your nature and do you seek a recompense for this?
As if the eye asked a return for seeing or the feet for walking; for just as these were made for this which they effect according to their proper constitution, and so get what is theirs, even thus man is made by Nature to be benevolent, and whenever he contributes to the common stock by benevolence or otherwise,
he has done what he was constituted for, and gets what is his own.” ²

For Marcus Aurelius, and for you {{username}}, a Stoic in the making, doing good must be an action that is pure and simple in its intention. This action must be spontaneous and thoughtless, without self-indulgence.

Doing good is your natural function and therefore must be innate to you.

It must become second nature to you.