The Danish concept of hygge has had a lot of air time. Deservedly so. In case you’ve missed the furore, hygge (pronounced ‘hoo-ga’) is more than a word. It’s a philosophy that has no direct English translation. The best I can give you is ‘cosiness’ or ‘comfort’. Sipping a mug of hot choc, in front of a roaring fire, for example. Your hoo-ga is magnified if there’s a raging storm outside.
Andy Cope
The great news about hoo-go is that it doesn’t cost a bean. In line with all the best mindfulness traditions, it’s available to everyone, at any time. It’s just a matter of knowing where and how to look.
They also have a special happiness philosophy across the water in Sweden; lagom, meaning ‘adequate’ or ‘sufficient’. I like to think of it as Goldilocks’ porridge and bed situation or, just about right. You can have a lagom amount of food on your plate, live in a lagom house, and have your heating set to a lagom temperature.
So, in line with the Scandi philosophy of ‘happiness doesn’t have to cost the earth’, here are some more top tips that will boost your happiness without emptying your bank account:
Mindfulness: The oldest happiness trick in the book is to spend a little more time every day in the moment, in the now, noticing the world around you and focusing on its beauty
Flip your thinking: Mondays are bad and Fridays good. Really? The average life-span is 4000 weeks and a seventh of your life is spent on Mondays. Flip your thinking. Friday is, in fact, another week closer to death, while Monday is an opportunity to make a dent in the universe. Mondays…. bring ‘em on!
Special knickers: Upgrade your knickers so every bit of underwear oozes confidence. Stop saving your special pants for a special occasion and wake up to the fact that life is the ultimate special occasion
Be a hugger. The average hug lasts 2.1 seconds but for the love to transfer a hug needs to last 7 seconds or longer (but warned, counting out loud spoils the effect)
Gazing lovingly’: If you have small children practice what Gretchen Rubin calls ‘gazing lovingly’. This means downing tools at the end of the evening and standing at your children’s bedroom door, watching them sleep (the modern world dictates that you only ever do this with your own kids and there is an age limit of 10)
Practice the 10/5 principle, ie, smile at everyone who comes within 10 feet of you and make eye contact & say ‘hi’ to everyone within 5 feet (works pretty much everywhere, except the Tube)
Less anti-social media: Spend less time on electronic friends and more time with real flesh and blood ones. Let me guess, you already know that one real friend equates to 1000 Facebook friends? This happiness top-tip requires no explanation. Never in the history of humankind have we ever been so connected yet so alone.
Write a list of 10 things you really appreciate but take for granted. ‘Health’ and ‘relationships’ will almost certainly be on there. Stop taking them for granted!
And finally, back to Scandinavia. IKEA specifically. We’ve all built a Billy bookcase and we know that there’s an art to piecing it together. It’s so devilishly complicated that what you thought would be a one hour job has taken you all of Saturday and well into Sunday. There’s been a lot of cursing and the palm of your hand is bruised as you screw the last pieces together. All done, you look at your handiwork and feel proud. Your IKEA masterpiece holds a special place in your heart because of the effort expended.
And it’s the same with life. It’s devilishly complicated trying to piece it together and you’ll appreciate it more if you’ve had to struggle a bit. So, chill, grab a cuppa and take a moment to admire your magnificent handiwork.
Andy Cope is a happiness expert and co-author of The Little Book of Emotional Intelligence: How to Flourish in a Crazy World. For more information see www.artofbrilliance.co.uk.