Scandinavian Life Philosophies For a Long, Happy, And Meaningful life- medium.com
Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden are ranked among the top happiest places in the world. With a focus on balance and connection, each country has developed its own way of living life to the fullest.
Millions of Scandinavians enjoy a healthy work-life balance, high standards of living with less pressure, less stress, and more time for everything they enjoy and love doing.
Lagom
Lagom (pronounced “lar-gohm”) is is a huge part of the culture in Sweden.
It means “Not too little. Not too much. Just right.”
This single word encapsulates the entire Swedish socially democratic philosophy on life: that everyone should have enough but not too much.
The concept encourages an overarching balance across our lives: everything in moderation.
At the office, professionals who work hard — but not to the detriment of other parts of their lives — are following the lagom ideal.
Rather than burning yourself out with a 60-hour working week and then getting stressed, lagom encourages balance and living somewhere in the middle.
The philosophy of lagom is beautifully simple, and offers an alternative to the idea of ‘always seeking the next best thing.
Anna Brones explains in her book, Live Lagom: Balanced Living the Swedish Way, “Applying a sense of lagom to our everyday lives — in what we eat, what we wear, how we live, how we work — might just be the trick for embracing a more balanced, sustainable lifestyle that welcomes the pleasures of existence rather than those of consumption.”
Hygge
In both Danish and Norwegian, hygge (pronounced as ‘hoo-guh’) means “to give courage, comfort, joy”.
In Denmark, hygge is more than just a word — it’s a central part of the culture.
It’s about giving your responsible, stressed-out self a break to live in the moment and enjoy your immediate environment.
“It is about enjoying life with friends and family, cherishing the moments. It is about grabbing hold of these moments and making them special. Not rushing through an activity so to move on to the next, it is about taking your time and enjoying what is before you now and not what is to come” says Sofie Pedersen, in her book, Keep Calm & Hygge: A Guide to The Danish Art of Simple & Cosy Living.
Hygge is a feeling closely tied to being relaxed, happy, content and at peace with oneself. It is the absence of all pretence and worry.
If you take time to lose yourself in a book, take a walk, ride a bike, share a meal, enjoy your favourite TV show with friends and family, or play board games, you are already practising hygge!
It’s the pleasure of simply being.
You cannot hygge if you are in a hurry or stressed out.
Lykke
“Lykke” (pronounced loo-kah) is simply the Danish word for “happiness.”
“Copenhagen is probably the most Lykke place in the world. At five o’clock in the afternoon everyone leaves work, rides home on their bicycles, does two hours of creative play with their children, goes out to do a random act of kindness to a stranger who wants to be left in peace, lights five candles and then settles down to watch several episodes of a Scandi-noir TV thriller about some psychopathic paedophile on the loose,” writes Meik Wiking, author of “The Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World’s Happiest People”.
Happiness isn’t a destination, it’s a habit.
It’s what we do to make everything else in life awesome. And to be truly happy, you have to be actively involved in the direction of your life.
Strive to install experiences of gratitude, gladness, moderation, accomplishment, feeling successful, feeling that there’s a fullness in your life rather than an emptiness or a scarcity to live life to the fullest.
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