With Christmas a recent memory and a new year fast approaching, I’ve been thinking about joy and the difference between happiness and joy. One of the best definitions of joy I’ve read is by Zen teacher Charlotte Joko Beck: “Joy is exactly what’s happening, minus our opinion of it.” Beck points out that happiness has an opposite (unhappiness), but joy is belonging to each and every moment. She even goes so far as suggesting that freedom and love might be synonyms for joy.

I want more joy in 2024, and I’m coming to realize that joy will have little if anything to do with my circumstances. Recognizing the difference between reality and the stories I tell myself about it is key to having more joy. As I continue to mature (i.e., grow older), I realize that my opinions about most everything are pretty irrelevant. When our air conditioning went out during a heat wave over a long holiday weekend and the temperature in the house was 89 degrees, it wasn’t pleasant. But being angry that there was no one available to fix it for four days wasn’t going to make us any cooler. And though it sounds silly, I would consider previous generations who lived without central air or indoor plumbing, and I found myself grateful to be able to take a cold shower and flush the toilet.

Author Maya Angelou once said, “This is a wonderful day. I have never seen this one before.” This captures the essence of Beck’s thought that joy is reality without our opinion overshadowing it. I’m looking for more joy in 2024 and less of my own opinions.