2024 REFLECTIONS & AN EXPERIMENT ON JOY

First off, I must say, I have loved 2024. It was filled with a pleasant mix of adventure, growth, new experiences, challenges, connection, laughter and a generous sprinkle of anxiety. As I reflect on this year, I see it’s been a year of stabilizing (balance), slowness (presence) and flexibility (releasing control). I’ve been able to enjoy the fruits of last years inward journey while continuing to learn and grow. I’ve continued creating a safe home physically and within. I’ve loosened up on the strictness of my routines (and boy were they strict) that guided me through the seas of change. Throughout this year, I’ve also learned a few things about joy and how it shows up in my life.

I was listening to a book recently called The 12 Hour Walk where the author talks about if you were to rate your days on a scale of 1-10, the “10” days wouldn’t be possible without the “1” days. Coming out of “1” moments/days/months/seasons helps me appreciate the “10” days more. My “1” days have lowered my threshold for what a “10” day is. The newfound awareness of how low I can go (“1” days) and surviving/overcoming makes little things I’ve previously taken for granted seem extraordinary. There’s nothing like navigating through hardships in life (health challenges, grief, economic & relationship woes, etc.) to reset your joy barometer and appreciate all that is good, big and small. There is also something to building resilience through challenges that can increase your confidence in your ability to handle future challenges. This is all to say that, I agree, “1” and “10” days go hand in hand and having “1” days actually may increase your joy.

An Experiment on Joy

While talking with a friend the other week I asked what their typical day looks like starting with morning rituals and ending with winding down for bed. One of my favorite things to know about someone is how they begin and nightcap their days. It’s a glimmer into their world that’s fascinating as how someone spends their time clues you in to what they value. Semi-related side note: My all-time favorite question to ask someone is what their perfect day is, described in detail, starting upon waking. I love the answers I’ve heard. This is also such a fun thing to think about for yourself!

Back to a typical day. My days largely start the same: meditation, gym, outdoor walk, water, breakfast, coffee, work- all things I love! It’s what I do after work or on the weekends that frequently changes and when I am being intentional, what fills that time is guided by one question: does it bring me joy?

I know it’s not possible for my mere mortal self to live in a constant state of joy nor do I want to as I just talked about the necessary “1” days. I do like to be aware of what fuels my sense of joy so I can be intentional with incorporating those things into my days. On the flip side, I also want to be conscious of thoughts, things or activities that may send me down an un-joyous spiral.

Joy and what brings me joy has evolved significantly in the past couple of years. I think joy evolves as a result of finding new interests, increasing gratitude, healing, changing, intuiting. In its current state, when I feel joy, I feel it subconsciously like a spark appearing within me. When I recognize it, the spark grows and usually results in a warm feeling or a smile across my face.

The Experiment

To get clear on when joy appears for me, for a week, I decided to jot down in my notes whenever something throughout the day gave me the spark of joy. It was a fun exercise and helped me soak up the joyous moment for a little longer. I’ve tried to abbreviate and theme the list I came up with over the course of a week below. As expected, the items are still slightly random and somewhat specific to the week the data was gathered.

Creature comforts:

• The couch: Reading books, laying, meditating, being content on the couch (rest)
• Cozy new pjs (comfort)
• Morning sun (energy)
• A piping hot cup of coffee (warmth)
• Live music in small lounges (intimate)
• Picking up the paint brush again (reconnecting)
• A clean house (cleansing)
• Books! So many books (knowledge)
• Baking cookies (no further explanation needed)

External (outside me):

• Smiles from strangers (connection)
• A smile that reaches the eyes (authenticity; joy radiating)
• Loved ones birthdays (celebrating life)
• Book recommendations (Can this be a love language?!)
• Ice bath FaceTimes with long distance siblings (prioritizing quality time)
• Friends walking together through the hills & valleys of life (your people)
• My perfectly imperfect family and the evolution of our relationships (gratitude & progress)
• Mornings (opportunity)
• Soul fueling conversations with friends (connection)
• The palpable energy felt when someone’s sharing their life’s Dharma / passion (aligned)
• Thought provoking presentations (knowledge)
• Kind clients & interesting problems (invigorating)
• Quality time with mom ❤ (love)
• Coffee catch ups with friends (connection)
• Checking out a new restaurant & loving it (exciting)
• Cotton candy sunsets (awe)
• Health (is wealth)
• Sharing in other’s joy/wins (this joy rivals my own)
• Hearing about & rooting for friend’s/family’s/loved one’s dreams (better together)
• Any and all time spent outside (instant attitude adjustment)
• Pottery class (joy that comes with being a beginner)

Internal (within me):

• Love
• When something finally clicks (eureka)
• Re-grounding in the deep knowing that what’s for me will not pass me (releasing control)
• Slower seasons and aligning my energy as such (season syncing)
• Making a hard decision & trusting the path ahead (unknown)
• Tech free walks outside and observing life/mind/tension (presence)
• Catching a wandering mind and tuning back into presence (progress)
• Dreaming, plotting & planning (creating)
• Awareness of ebs and flows of feelings/motivation/direction (acceptance)
• Laughing (healing)
• The 1 days (resilience)
• Recognizing a silence that makes me squirm (awareness of growth areas)
• Listening to and trusting the whispers (intuiting)

Throughout this little experiment I found that I could only be aware of my joy while in the present moment. These items are a long winded way of saying that joy solely exists in the here and now.

I also will briefly note when I felt un-joyous throughout the week (which is more than I’d like to admit). The common thread that lead to the un-joyous feelings were when I was worrying, trying to control outcomes and overthinking. Turns out, most of my un-joyous moments were brought about by my own doing (dang it) and existed solely in my mind (the antithesis of presence). I think of the quote from Seneca that says, “We suffer more in imagination than in reality.” Seems this two thousand year plus old truth has stood the test of time and my mini experiment told me precisely what Seneca knew long ago.

To wrap up this very official experiment, I suppose part of the answer to my question “does it bring me joy?” is to stay present and maybe it will. Slightly kidding. For me, joy seems to come through connecting with people and myself, learning, increasing my awareness, spending as much time as possible outside and baking cookies. My life’s practice shall be to tune in to and appreciate the joy that exists abundantly in the present. A practice that will, no doubt, take me the rest of my days (or at least through 2025).

Until the next tale… Happy trails.

-Hannah