(ही पोस्ट मराठीत इथं वाचता येईल.)
Questions like "Who is your favorite teacher?" or "Who is your favorite author?" often seem amusing (and sometimes even pointless) to me. The reason is simple—there is rarely a single person who stands out so distinctly that no one else comes close. We can admire multiple teachers and/or authors simultaneously, each for different reasons. Our memories of people and experiences are shaped by various contexts, and predicting which memory will surface at a given time is impossible.
Someone recently asked me, "What was your happiest moment in 2024?" and I found myself utterly confused. Several things came to mind, but ranking them seemed impossible. How do I compare the joy of unexpectedly spotting a beautiful bird with the happiness of mastering a new skill? Do I even need to rank them? Must one experience be considered superior while the rest become insignificant? Of course, I didn’t express all these thoughts to the person who asked. Instead, I gave a quick, generic response and moved on.
A Yearlong Experiment
Later, when my work was done, I opened a small box from my cupboard.
No, not to eat Shrewsbury biscuits (those were long gone!) This box contained notes from an experiment I had been conducting throughout the year. It was time to examine them carefully.
At the beginning of 2024, I came across a Facebook post suggesting an interesting activity: Every week, write down a positive event from that week on a piece of paper, store it in a jar, and at the end of the year, revisit all those moments to reflect on the good things that happened.
I was curious about the experiment. I decided to try it, with a few modifications. Instead of a jar, I used a box. The idea of simply noting a "positive event" felt too vague, so I redefined it: "What made me feel happy or content this week?" This is what I recorded every Sunday evening. A reminder on my phone helped me stay consistent with this Weekly Positive Note practice.
Of course, I didn’t always manage to write the note on Sunday itself. Sometimes, I would delay it by two or three days. When I finally opened the box at the end of the year, I found 51 notes out of 52 weeks—one week must have been missed, or perhaps a note had slipped outside the box into my cupboard.
What Did These Notes Reveal?
There was nothing grand or extraordinary in these notes—just small moments, everyday experiences that might have otherwise been forgotten. If I had tried to recall my happiest moments of the year without these notes, I would have remembered only two or three. But here, I had written proof that I had experienced joy 47–48 more times! And this was just what I had consciously recorded—surely, I had felt happiness even more frequently than that.
So what were these happy moments?
- Meeting people and sharing their joy.
- Unexpectedly spotting a beautiful bird.
- Enjoying the rain.
- Taking a peaceful Sunday morning walk on empty roads.
- Visiting parts of the city (like Kondhwa and Ramwadi) for the first time.
- Noticing magnificent trees while riding the metro.
- Buying books.
- Reaching my goal of reading a certain number of books in the year.
- Writing something meaningful.
Even work-related joys made it into my notes. I have always chosen work that makes me happy, but looking back, I realized that even the small details of the work gave me joy.
- Successfully holding an engaging discussion with rural communities on LGBTQ+ topics made me feel accomplished.
- Completing a training manual was a moment of satisfaction.
- Seeing participants in a workshop actively engage in meaningful discussions brought a sense of fulfillment.
- Learning a new language and watching a film in that language with minimal reliance on subtitles was an unexpected delight.
There were new experiences too—visiting the Pune Meteorological Observatory for the first time, attending a workshop on Constitution of India, and listening to instrumental music at Yashada. Even something as simple as eating a pancake after many years found its place in my happiness list! 😊
Healing and Gratitude
2024 also brought an accident, followed by a necessary surgery. Naturally, a significant portion of my recorded happiness revolved around medical progress—
- The ability to sit up on my own.
- Regaining movement in my arm.
- Being able to eat with my right hand again.
- Returning to typing on my laptop.
For nearly three to four months, my notes were filled with milestones in my recovery.
Some entries expressed gratitude—for people, for life itself. Even letting go of certain things effortlessly brought its own kind of happiness.
What Did This Exercise Teach Me?
Happiness and contentment aren’t found only in big achievements or major events—something I already knew in theory, had read about, and even experienced before. But going through this year-long process reinforced that understanding.
Of course, my year wasn’t without struggles. There were challenges, pain, and difficult moments, as expected in life. But now, looking at these notes, I find myself smiling again.
In the final balance, these small joys were what remained and truly mattered.
I am sure such positive moments have always existed in my life, but I had never made a conscious effort to observe and appreciate them before. If I pay even closer attention, I know I will find even more layers of joy in everyday life.
So, I think I’ll continue this experiment in 2025 as well! 😊
