Top Quotes: “The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living” — Meik Wiking

Background: I’m all about forming habits that conduce happiness, so I’m always eager to learn from other cultures — like Denmark — that have high levels of happiness. I was familiar with the emotion concept of hygge from a prior book I read (How Emotions Are Made — HIGHLY recommend) and it was great to have this little word fully fleshed out and get some tips on how I can incorporate more hygge into my life.

Intro

“Hygge has been called everything from ‘the art of creating intimacy, ‘coziness of the soul,’ and ‘the absence of annoyance’ to ‘taking pleasure from the presence of soothing things’ ‘cozy togetherness’ and ‘cocoa by candlelight.’”

“Hygge is about an atmosphere and an essence, rather than about things. It is about being with the people we love. A feeling of home. A feeling that we are safe, that we have shielded ourselves from the world and allow ourselves to let our guard down. You may be having an endless conversation about the small or big things in life — or just be comfortable in each other’s silent company — or simply just be by yourself enjoying a cup of tea.”

“In Denmark, there is wide support for the welfare state which stems from the fact that the welfare model turns our collective wealth into well-being. We are not paying taxes, we are investing in our society. We are purchasing quality of life. The key to understanding the high levels of well-being in Denmark is the welfare model’s ability to reduce risk, uncertainty, and anxiety among its citizens, and to prevent extreme unhappiness.”

“The word ‘hygge’ originates from a Norwegian word meaning ‘well-being.’ For almost five decades, Denmark and Norway were one kingdom, until Denmark lost Norway in 1814.”

“Danes are the happiest people in Europe according to the European Social Survey, but they are also the ones who meet most often with their friends and family and feel the calmest and most peaceful.”

Candles

“No recipe for hygge is complete without candles — 85% of Danes mention them when they ask what they associate with hygge.”

“The word for ‘spoilsport’ in Danish is ‘lyseslukker,’ which means ‘the one who puts out the candles.’”

“Denmark burns more candles per head than anywhere else on Earth. Denmark burns almost twice as much candle wax as the runner-up, Austria. More than half of Danes light candles almost every day during autumn and winter, and only 4% say they never light candles.”

“A special candle called kalenderlys is marked with 24 lines, one for each day in December before Christmas, the slowest countdown clock in the world.”

“There is one serious drawback to being crazy about candles: the soot. Studies show that lighting just one candle fills the air with more microparticles than traffic in a busy street, cigarettes, or cooking. But there is now a growing awareness among Danes of the importance of airing out a room after burning candles.”

“The lower the temperature of the light, the more hygge. Lightbulbs close to sunsets, wood, and candle flames in light temperature are ideal.”

“Several smaller lamps around the room create more hyggeligt light than one big lamp set in the ceiling. You want to create small caves of light around the room.”

The Space

“Danish is an infinite list of compound words. For example, speciallargepraksisplanloegningsstabiliseringsperiode (specialty-doctor-practice-planning-stabilizing-period) is an actual word with 51 letters. Hygge is no different. You can pretty much add it to any other word in Danish. You can be a hyggespreder (someone who spreads the hygge), Friday night is reserved for familiehygge, and socks can be labeled hyggesokker.”

“The annual consumption of confectionary in Denmark is 18 pounds per person, making Danes second only to the Finns as the people who eat more sweets than anyone in the world., twice the European average.”

“Danes put a lot of effort and money into making their homes hyggelige. They enjoy the most living space per capita in Europe — 10 square meters more on average than the runner-up, Sweden and 15 more than France.”

“The one thing every home needs is a hyggekrog, which roughly translates to ‘a nook.’ It is the place in the room where you love to snuggle up in a blanket, with a book and a cup of tea, often by a window.”

Activities

“Hygge is about giving your responsible, stressed-out, achiever adult a break. Relax. Just for a little while. It is about experiencing happiness in simple pleasures and knowing that everything is going to be ok.”

“If you and your family are going on vacation in the summer, get a jump on the hygge in the winter. If you’re going to Spain, watch Spanish movies, make tapas, label objects in the house with their Spanish words on post-its so you can get a head start on the language.”

“Have things you’ve been meaning to get rid of? Why not get rid of it by swapping it for something that you do need — and have a hyggelig evening at the same time? Invite friends and family over for a swap party. The rules are simple. Each person brings something they don’t use anymore that could be of value to someone else.”

“Risalamande is half part-whipped cream, half part-boiled rice, with finely chopped almonds and topped with hot cherry sauce. Eating it is not just a delicious experience, though, It is very much social. Because hidden in the big bowl of dessert is one whole almond. Usually, when everybody has been served a bowl of it, a silence spreads across the room. Eyes shift from person to person: ‘Who’s got the almond?’ Whoever finds it gets a present and will be the subject of comments about always being lucky. Sometimes people deny having found it to lure the others into eating everything in their bowl: it becomes a kind of perverted eating contest.”

Why is Denmark So Happy?

“In Copenhagen, 45% of those who live, study, or work in the city cycle to their place of education or employment. Roughly a third of those living outside the city but working in it choose to commute by bicycle. Most of us appreciate that cycling is an easy way to weave a bit of exercise into our daily routine and is environmentally (and wallet) friendly. It’s also easy, convenient, and makes people happier: a comprehensive study based on nearly 18,000 adult commuters over 18 years found that people who bike to work are happier than those who drive or use public transit. People who over the years changed from car or transit to cycling become happier after the switch, even if it made their commute longer. Switching from driving to riding a bike in your daily commute adds 3 to 14 months to your life expectancy and children who cycle to school are fitter than those who don’t.”

“Hygge mainly has to do with the absence of sounds, which enables you to hear even very quiet noises, such as raindrops on the roof, wind blowing outside the window, the sound of trees waving in the wind, or the creaks of wooden planks that yield when you walk on them. Also, the sounds of a person drawing, cooking, or knitting could be hyggelig. The sound of thunder can be very hyggeligt if you are inside and feel safe.”

“You can say that Denmark is the happiest country in the world or you can say that Denmark is the least unhappy country in the world. The welfare is really good (not perfect, but good) at reducing extreme unhappiness. Universal and free healthcare, free university education, and generous unemployment benefits go a long way to reducing unhappiness. This has a particular significance for those who are less well-off, a segment of society who is happier in Denmark than in other wealthy countries.”

“There is a high level of trust in Denmark (notice all the strollers parked outside cafes). There is a high level of freedom (Danes report really high levels of feeling in control over their lives), of wealth and good governance, and a well-functioning civil society.”

“The experience of positive emotions matters more to our overall well-being, measured in terms of life satisfaction, than the absence of negative emotions (although both are important).”

“Hygge may function as a driver for happiness on an everyday basis. Hygge gives us the language, the objective, and the methods for planning and preserving happiness — and for getting a little bit of it every day. Hygge may be the closest we come to happiness when we arrive home after a long day’s work on a cold, rainy day in January.”

“Once a year, we may find ourselves on a beach in some exotic country and we may find both hygge and happiness on those distant shores. But hygge is about making the most of what we have in abundance: the everyday. Perhaps Ben Franklin said it best: ‘Happiness consists more in small conveniences or pleasures that occur every day, than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom.’”