Happiness can be found every day
We have reached the time of year when the world flips a page and enters the season of autumn. Bloggers are busy snapping away the latest autumnal displays in trendy cafes. Pinterest boards are inundated with glorious images of rustling red and golden leaves, pumpkins, and mugs of hot chocolate. Applying my newly acquired knack for pursuing my curiosity, I learned that this snug mood has the delightful Danish term “hygge.”
The word hygge can be loosely translated as “coziness of the soul” or “the art of creating intimacy.” It is a feeling one can experience in the everyday, whether you are at home enjoying a cup of tea, having intimate conversations with family and friends, or journaling how grateful you are for everything beautiful in your life. “The Little Book of Hygge:
The Danish Way to Live Well” is a blissful read. It is littered with heartwarming photographs that stimulate your thoughts and is full of easy, practical and researchbacked advice on how to live well. Its author, Meik Wiking, is the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen — a think tank that researches well-being and happiness across the globe. Denmark has been among the happiest nations in the world for several years and hygge, it seems, is one of the reasons why.
After experimenting with the hygge manifesto, I decided to see what other well-being researchers are proposing to live a happier life. Research by the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania assures us that engaging in behaviors and experiences that promote happiness will result in us enjoying better relationships, better physical and emotional health, a stronger immune system, better performance at work, lower levels of burnout, and enable us to achieve our goals. Being kind is another way to increase your happiness levels.
It is easy to get used to all the goodness in our lives. And that is why it is important to practice gratitude by spending five minutes each day journaling thoughtfully about the people, situations, things or moments that made us grateful that day. This makes us mindful of what captures our fancy, and so we tend to repeat those positive experiences more frequently. Furthermore, when we know what is working in our lives, we are able to capitalize on those aspects and build bigger, grander dreams. Crafting memorable moments is another way to look at our lives with pride and joy. Indeed, such experiences bring us closer to our authentic selves, connect us to the right tribes, and allow us to savor our stories for years on end. Wiking recently published another book, “The Art of
Making Memories,” in which he encourages readers to say yes to first-time experiences, revel in experiences with all their senses, go for moments that are full of storytelling potential, and celebrate meaningful moments. As you can see, happiness can easily be attained in your everyday life. You just need to be mindful of its intricacies and then feel and behave in ways to experience it in abundance.