Why Is Everyone Talking About Hygge? The Danish Happiness Secret Going Global
· Free Press Journal
You enter a room drenched in moss green. Even the interior décor and furnishings don varied shades of the same colour. This soothes your eyes and you immediately feel at home. Again you step into an art gallery. The paintings brushed with oil and acrylic hues transport you to a different world. The artist’s imagination casts a hypnotic spell. The experience is at once surreal and enriching.
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You open the shutters of your bedroom window and the flowers from creeping vines instantly greet you with a sweet scent. You are ecstatic at heart. Also, when you lean over your balcony grill to marvel at the starlit sky with the round white moon floating in cloud-boats across its dark canvas, you escape into your dreams in no time.
And then there’s always that loving warm uncle or a jolly agony aunt in every family to bring along that aura of hope and mirth missing in your life for sometime. They have been spreading goodness with their unfading charm since your childhood days with rollicking stories, delicious chocolates and unadulterated fun.
Hurrah! It’s Hygge
Do all the aforementioned allusions ring a bell? Of course you know, what we mean. Each represents your happy bubble — a space where you find your calm and emotional contentment. In other words, you are under a hygge effect — pronounced as hoo-gah.
Primarily a Danish concept, sociologists suggest that this positive attitude of hygge has been quite instrumental in frequently catapulting the Scandinavian countries and broader Nordic nations (including Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, among others) to the top slots of the happiness index. This is proven by the World Happiness Report that publishes the annual ranks on the happiness scale.
“I take each day as it comes and look forward to scripting it with a things-to-do list. I neither have control over the way a day should pan out for me nor can I predict the results of life’s tests and trials that I’ve been put through, but the effort and sweat invested on my part should be 100 per cent,” believes Asmita Mahajan, a salesperson at a shopping mall.
“There’s no shortcut to achieving success. Hard toil is the sole route. This philosophy keeps me ever pleased and relaxed. In a nutshell, the hygge effect takes care of my happy hormones — serotonin and dopamine — both critical for my mental well-being,” she blurts out after a pause.
Derived from an Old Norse (the North Germanic language spoken in Scandinavia and its settlements in early Middle Ages) word meaning ‘well-being’ or ‘protected from the foreign realms’, hygge creates a secure, congenial atmosphere. It motivates one to drink life to the lees or live it to the fullest every moment like there’s no tomorrow.
Sad Nucleus
Life coaches rue over the fact that India or for that matter, the Subcontinent ranks poorly on the happiness index. “Well, that bit of news feels like an irony,” comments author, CXO coach and TedX speaker Parinita Kothari.
“On the contrary, we are known for our strong family bonds, close-knit communities, inseparable relationships, spiritual feelings, a firm emotional connect — the very quintessential elements that lay the foundational roots of a happy domestic tree that the world around us always seeks. And yet, we as a race is striving hard to cling to the balloon of happiness, lest it flies off,” she worries.
Romancing Nostalgia
As one grows old, he or she is only left with memories to look back at and live with. It’s the residue that life churns out after sifting through the highs and lows of its journey. A piece of fond memory can soon make one happy and nostalgic, turning over the pages of his/her past from life’s notebook.
“Whenever I browse an album of old sepia-tinged photographs or recently taken snaps on my phone gallery, I do a time travel. Memories are like time machines, putting one in the flashback mode in just a few moments,” reflects 70-yearold retired defence employee Subhash Ghosh.
Be it a person or a memento, anything could channel an oasis of peace in us that we keep hunting for in this parched, stressed, speedy and thirsty world of pragmatism.
“A haven of happiness is like a mirage, our holy grail amid our daily grind and noisy existence. We hanker after it like a lilting tune of harmony despite the urban hustle-bustle and industrial cacophony constantly grating our ears,” shares Bina Bhadra, a university student of sociology.
“Happiness and respite are elusive in nature but that’s the challenge that life’s struggles and aims throw at us in our ever hot-pursuit of the same,” she enlightens.
In the Cradle of Nature
Many would agree that aligning with an organic lifestyle is difficult in this synthetic and materialistic world. And remaining meek and unpretentious all along seems a near-impossible task. But that’s what mindfulness teaches us to be.
“I just don’t witness places like a mute spectator but try to be a part of its intricately-woven tapestry of people, colours, fragrances, rituals, costumes and cuisines. It is as if exploring the world as my oyster and plucking the glittery pearls from its vast, measureless bed,” informs 23-year-old Navneeth Ravi Moudgal, an avid traveller from Bangalore.
“I want to be that little boy running after a butterfly to catch it with a trapping net or a mesh bag in the garden of bliss and beauty,” enthuses the bike freak who rides his mean machine on many a dirt trail across the length and breadth of India.
Alienating the surrounding ambience from digital distractions and focusing solely on the present moment could help one acquire nirvana or salvation. It’s like immersing in the sea of serenity and releasing the internal composure like setting free a caged bird to flap its wings in the ‘limitless’ open.
“Sometimes, it’s better to switch off your cellphones and completely surrender yourself to the silence of nature. That gives you a chance to soul search,” espouses nature lover and trekker Gauri Das from Kolkata.
Tourists and travel vloggers encountering unique and impactful experiences with people and places on their trips obviously get a high. “I recently did a solo bike ride covering 1,600 km from Bengaluru to Panchgani and returned to the starting point,” recalls Moudgal excitedly, advocating slow travel and living, which is a rage now.
The Rise Of Slow And Intentional Living In 2025Happiness is Incomparable
Different countries have different global, geopolitical and domestic tensions to deal with. Does definition and scale of happiness vary from nation to nation? Rebuilding lives from devastation, reweaving dreams from the debris and celebrating festivals in rubble are like a routine ritual for the denizens of war-ravaged nations.
“Areas affected by geopolitical conflicts or economic instability need urgent access to essential resources and safe conditions for daily survival, whereas in well-heeled societies, people have a plethora of options to choose from to be in high spirits and in fine fettle. Some societies teach their members to achieve happiness for personal indulgence while others prod them to work towards a common aim: mass welfare and social harmony. Thus, happiness exists as a dynamic concept, which evolves in sync with the multiple social structures as well as cultural values of diverse communities,” concludes S Giriprasad, an acclaimed psychologist at Aster Whitefield Hospital.
Hygge Bucket List
Tick the boxes of simple pleasures that you wish to embrace in life forever:
Enjoy a quiet candlelight dinner with your romantic partner
Relish hot beverages under a blanket in winter
Browse a gripping novel by the fireside
Absorb the irresistible aroma and the soft touches of fluffy baked breads, warm muffins, fudgy cakes and crispy-crusty scones
Feel the droplets of rain on your skin as the first burst of monsoon showers kiss the dry-roasted earth
Binge-watch your favourite show or a teleseries
Chat up with old friends on phone
Let your hair down over drinks, music and dance in your office party after a hectic week at workplace
Spend quality time with the near and dear ones at a picnic or unwind in an informal family get-together, sharing gossips over gupshup with your partners in crime
Track nature and its wonders with a camera like a curious shutterbug
Stroking, caressing and playing with your pets
Live in the moment, echoing the Latin phrase carpe diem, which preaches to practise the motto of life: seize the day, value the invaluable treasures and praise the present
Those who have already accepted the above philosophy with open arms, they must have sensed optimal gratification
Nature Cure
Shut out the world of pollution and go off grid
Dive deep into clean environment and tap into its renewable energies
Opt for slow travel. Mingle with the local customs and cultures while travelling and trekking
Go for forest bathing, sky gazing and meditation
Connect with the spiritual you
Reality Versus Reels
The virtual space has consistently created a picture-perfect lifestyle of success, luxury, glamour and artificial happiness to attract views, likes, comments, adulation and a zillion followers to one’s online profile. People are blindly aping influencers and their diktats, little knowing that everything in this universe cannot suit all and sundry. They get detached from reality and forget to peep into their conscience and listen to their hearts. We are different from one another since birth and logically, we can’t be clones or carbon copies.
Social media is reportedly blamed for creating a fake world of happiness with unreasonable demands, plastic beauty standards, unrealistic dreams, filtered photos, AI-generated objects, people and places as well as influencers and their reels ruling the roost. Can such implausible desires vouch for true ecstasy?