“Hygge” ( is pronounced as HEW-gé or HOO-gé) according to the Wikipedia: “(…) is a Danish and Norwegian word which can be described as a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (…)
We all crave for happiness and coziness, don’t we?!… doesn’t matter our age, our gender or what we believe in, to be happy is part of the Humanity inner soul.
If we ask anyone on the street: “What do you desire the most for your life?!” for more than “90%” the answer will be, with no doubt: “I just want to be happy!”
So what is happiness, what defines it as something that all of us seem to seek and crave, like their personal “Holy Grail”?!
Happiness is in the simple things of life!
Hygge came to “teach” us exactly that! The Dane has it embedded in their own culture for more than a millennia, and now it seems to want to conquer the world by storm… a good and cozy one.
Denmark and Norway are considered year after year as the happiest countries in the world! Why is that?! What makes it so?! Why is the rest of the world so loom, if happiness seems to be so close to everyone’s grasp?!
Danes have very good wages, (an average of 5,190€ per month) half of it is taken in taxes… but even so, and thanks to it they have:
- A free public health and education system, the top of the top in Europe.
- One of the countries with the lowest levels of corruption, since their politicians do not have any of the “extravagant benefits” that the majority of the politicians in other countries have.
- There is equality between men and women.
So what is hygge after all?
Hygge is in short an appeal to the senses. Believe it or not, that type of happiness can exist in something as simple such as to have a nice hot cup of tea in front of a fireplace. A meeting between family and friends, nice meals at home with them, better if it is at candlelight, time to sit down on your couch wrapped in a fluffy blanket and read a good book, just relax and enjoy the moment.
Eat a good cake, to indulge yourselves with tasty and simple things.
According to the Danes when this philosophy is well-applied it will guarantee for sure your happiness!
Helen Russell, (a British journalist, author, and speaker that lives currently in Denmark - http://www.helenrussell.co.uk/biography/) in her book “The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country“, recalls that the Danes are not much given to forced deprivation. “You try to be kind to yourself and to others.”
So, hygge is not a selfish pursuit of happiness is instead the accomplishment of feeling happy with others, making them as comfortable as you are.
You can find the original post on my wordpress blog at: http://blog.patilustra.com