Lagom and Hygge
Not only is it far easier to pronounce ('la' like 'bar', 'gom' like 'prom'), but 'lagom' is much more easier to understand than the indescribable feeling of 'cosiness' [see Hygge: A heart-warming lesson from Denmark].
Translated as 'just the right amount', 'lagom' is thought to relate to being frugal, fair and creating balance.
“At one end, we are excessive in our work habits, connectivity and indulgences. On the other hand, we are advised to limit ourselves by trying a new fad diet or a trendy detox.
“In a world of contrasts and contradictory advice, lagom hits the middle - allowing people to enjoy themselves, but stay healthy and content at the same time.” [//middle path in Buddhism]
The true reason it’s difficult to translate is because it mutates, changing meaning in different situations and within various contexts.
It could mean ‘appropriate’ in social settings,
‘moderation’ in food,
‘less is more’ in interior decor,
‘mindfulness’ in wellbeing,
‘sustainability’ in lifestyle choices
and ‘logic’ in business dealings.
All these carry a connotation of ‘optimal’ decision-making.
Lagom teaches us how to avoid both excess and extreme limitation, allowing us to better understand what makes us happy and what works for our own, unique, mental wellbeing. By adopting a lagom mindset, we teach ourselves to avoid extremes of mood or feeling.
source
* * *
With its no-nonsense approach to healthy living, followers of Sweden's lagom - which roughly translates to "not too much and not too little" - might just wind up with more time on earth to enjoy the view from their mid-century modern lounge chairs.
That's the idea behind a new book called The Nordic Guide to Living 10 Years Longer: 10 Easy Tips for a Happier, Healthier Life, a new book by Swedish physician and researcher Bertil Marklund.
"We have an expression, 'lagom is best,'" Marklund said. The word encapsulates the Nordic distaste for doing anything to extremes, from adopting a strict low-carb diet to clocking a lot of overtime.
"I think if you asked most people, they would admit to working more than they would like and some of that's by choice."
While there's always something more that could use your attention at work, Marklund's book encourages workers to be satisfied with "good enough."
"It makes your life easier, cuts stress, and enables you to live a longer and happier life."
"The important and interesting thing is that it's every day exercise, 30 minutes or more, that's a very good base for good health," he said.
Spending half an hour daily walking, cycling, gardening or taking the stairs goes a long way in combating the effects of a desk job, for example.
Exercise is an easy sell in the Nordic nations - Sweden even has an autumn school holiday called "sport week."
Rather than an overhaul of what you eat, Marklund's book prizes simple changes that you can implement one at a time - adding more high-fibre grains and antioxidant-rich fruits, for example.
Coffee lovers will be glad to know Marklund says three or four cups a day contributes to good health.
The critical thing is to develop a healthy diet you can stick with over time, he says. It's an approach that discourages drinking soda but still allows room for a little cake with your coffee at work.
extracts; source
* * *
...someone has sent me something about döstädning. That’s the art of death cleaning - and it’s coming to bookshops in January. It’s a Swedish phenomenon (of course it is) whereby elderly people get their affairs in order. I watch the formidable Margareta Magnusson talk about death cleaning for herself and for others. It is about getting rid of all your junk. Downsizing. It is very considerate, as it about organising everything so that when you are die no one has to sort out your unholy mess.
Living well does mean accepting death, I am sure. Theoretically, all lifestyle is a preparation for death.
source
*
The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning// How to Make Your Loved Ones’ Lives Easier and Your Own Life More Pleasant // By Margareta Magnusson
Funny, wise, and deeply practical, Swedish artist Margareta Magnusson offers advice on how to declutter your home and minimize your worldly possessions so your loved ones don’t have to do it for you.
In Swedish there is a word for it: Döstädning, “dö” means “death” and “städning” means “cleaning.” The idea behind death cleaning is to remove unnecessary things and get your home in order as you become older. But this word also can be applied whenever you do a thorough cleaning, to make your life easier and more pleasant. It does not necessarily have to do with age or death. If you can hardly close your drawers or shut your closet doors, it is time to do something about your stuff.
***
http://bookworm-quotes.blogspot.com/2015/10/hygge-heart-warming-lesson-from-denmark.html
MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2015
Hygge: A heart-warming lesson from Denmark
Hygge was never meant to be translated - it was meant to be felt
Sitting by the fire on a cold night, wearing a woolly jumper, while drinking mulled wine and stroking a dog - probably surrounded by candles. That's definitely "hygge".
Eating home-made cinnamon pastries.
Watching TV under a duvet.
Tea served in a china set.
Family get-togethers at Christmas.
They're all hygge too.
The Danish word, pronounced "hoo-ga" Danish, hygge (pronounced “HUE-gah”), is usually translated into English as "cosiness". But it's much more than that, say its aficionados - an entire attitude to life that helps Denmark to vie with Switzerland and Iceland to be the world's happiest country.
Morley College, in central London, is teaching students how to achieve hygge as part of its Danish language course. "We have long, cold winters in Denmark," says lecturer Susanne Nilsson. "That influences things. Hygge doesn't have to be a winter-only thing, but the weather isn't that good for much of the year."
With as little as four sunshine hours a day in the depths of winter, and average temperatures hovering around 0C, people spend more time indoors as a result, says Nilsson, meaning there's greater focus on home entertaining:
"Hygge could be families and friends getting together for a meal, with the lighting dimmed, or it could be time spent on your own reading a good book. It works best when there's not too large an empty space around the person or people."
The idea is to relax and feel as at-home as possible, forgetting life's worries.
"The rest of the world seems to be slowly waking up to what Danes have been wise to for generations - that having a relaxed, cosy time with friends and family, often with coffee, cake or beer, can be good for the soul," says Helen Russell, author of The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country.
"Hygge seems to me to be about being kind to yourself - indulging, having a nice time, not punishing or denying yourself anything. All very useful come January when in the UK everyone's on diets or manically exercising or abstaining from alcohol.
"There isn't so much enforced deprivation in Denmark. Instead you're kinder to yourselves and so each other. Danes don't binge then purge - there's not much yo-yo dieting in Denmark."
The adjectival form of hygge is "hyggeligt", a word offered as a compliment to a host after a pleasant evening at their home.
"Hygge isn't just a middle-class thing. Absolutely everyone's at it from my dustbin man to the mayor," says Russell. "Hygge is so crucial to living Danishly that the other day on the motorway, I saw a camper van driving along with lit candles in the windows. This is probably illegal but Vikings don't tend to be too hung up on health and safety.
"My most hygge experience to date was probably watching the sun set from a hot tub in a blizzard in January, beer in hand. But it needn't be anything quite so dramatic. I generally light a candle at my home office desk while I'm working."
Origin of 'Hygge'
• Term comes from a Norwegian word meaning "wellbeing"
• First appeared in Danish writing in the 19th Century and has since evolved into the cultural idea known in Denmark today
"It's interesting that the word doesn't really translate into other languages. Hygge isn't restricted to Denmark, so why is it so hard to describe without borrowing a Danish word?"
It sounds a bit like the English word "hug", for which the Oxford English Dictionary lists no origins. The 19th/early 20th Century philologist Walter William Skeat thought it might be of Scandinavian origin. Notionally the effect of hygge and a hug is similar - comforting and secure. An obsolete meaning of hug is "to cherish oneself; to keep or make oneself snug", according to the OED.
Sometimes you see or do things that you would call 'hyggeligt' in the UK but you wouldn't use that word to describe them because people wouldn't know what you're talking about.
Some older Danes feel that hygge isn't what it used to be, as the stress on socialising has lessened. It's now generally considered hyggeligt to watch TV alone or watching a DVD set, perhaps while eating crisps.
Other countries and cultures have similar expressions. In German there's Gemutlichkeit, a sense of wellbeing based on good food, company and perhaps a drink. But Danes insist hygge is unique.
The blogger Anna Lea West, has offered "cosiness of the soul" as an English definition.
"Hygge was never meant to be translated. It was meant to be felt," translator ToveMaren Stakkestad has written. Maybe the only way to understand this slippery cultural idea is to visit Denmark, rather than read about it.
"It's an idea so rooted in the Danish sense of togetherness, and perhaps even in Denmark's social democracy, that a Brit might struggle to grasp its historic and social significance," says Patrick Kingsley, author of the travel book How To Be Danish.
"But that said, in essence hygge is about a group of slightly gloomy friends huddling under the duvet on a cold winter's night."
source
* * *
UPD Feb.2017:
See the article:
TreeHugger correct version would say a) do not burn wood fires because of the particulate pollution they cause and b) do not burn candles because of indoor air quality. But warm socks are OK.
Facebook comment here:
Mik Belù: It is a misunderstanding that hygge is a winter state of mind. Hygge just means enjoying the simple pleasures in life, preferably in good company. You can do that on a summer's day. And you don't need to buy hygge paraphernalia. That's something lifestyle magazines have made you do. Hygge is a state of mind, a way of enjoying and sharing the little things and the simple things that make life richer.
Translated as 'just the right amount', 'lagom' is thought to relate to being frugal, fair and creating balance.
“At one end, we are excessive in our work habits, connectivity and indulgences. On the other hand, we are advised to limit ourselves by trying a new fad diet or a trendy detox.
“In a world of contrasts and contradictory advice, lagom hits the middle - allowing people to enjoy themselves, but stay healthy and content at the same time.” [//middle path in Buddhism]
The true reason it’s difficult to translate is because it mutates, changing meaning in different situations and within various contexts.
It could mean ‘appropriate’ in social settings,
‘moderation’ in food,
‘less is more’ in interior decor,
‘mindfulness’ in wellbeing,
‘sustainability’ in lifestyle choices
and ‘logic’ in business dealings.
All these carry a connotation of ‘optimal’ decision-making.
Lagom teaches us how to avoid both excess and extreme limitation, allowing us to better understand what makes us happy and what works for our own, unique, mental wellbeing. By adopting a lagom mindset, we teach ourselves to avoid extremes of mood or feeling.
source
* * *
With its no-nonsense approach to healthy living, followers of Sweden's lagom - which roughly translates to "not too much and not too little" - might just wind up with more time on earth to enjoy the view from their mid-century modern lounge chairs.
That's the idea behind a new book called The Nordic Guide to Living 10 Years Longer: 10 Easy Tips for a Happier, Healthier Life, a new book by Swedish physician and researcher Bertil Marklund.
"We have an expression, 'lagom is best,'" Marklund said. The word encapsulates the Nordic distaste for doing anything to extremes, from adopting a strict low-carb diet to clocking a lot of overtime.
"I think if you asked most people, they would admit to working more than they would like and some of that's by choice."
While there's always something more that could use your attention at work, Marklund's book encourages workers to be satisfied with "good enough."
"It makes your life easier, cuts stress, and enables you to live a longer and happier life."
"The important and interesting thing is that it's every day exercise, 30 minutes or more, that's a very good base for good health," he said.
Spending half an hour daily walking, cycling, gardening or taking the stairs goes a long way in combating the effects of a desk job, for example.
Exercise is an easy sell in the Nordic nations - Sweden even has an autumn school holiday called "sport week."
Rather than an overhaul of what you eat, Marklund's book prizes simple changes that you can implement one at a time - adding more high-fibre grains and antioxidant-rich fruits, for example.
Coffee lovers will be glad to know Marklund says three or four cups a day contributes to good health.
The critical thing is to develop a healthy diet you can stick with over time, he says. It's an approach that discourages drinking soda but still allows room for a little cake with your coffee at work.
extracts; source
* * *
...someone has sent me something about döstädning. That’s the art of death cleaning - and it’s coming to bookshops in January. It’s a Swedish phenomenon (of course it is) whereby elderly people get their affairs in order. I watch the formidable Margareta Magnusson talk about death cleaning for herself and for others. It is about getting rid of all your junk. Downsizing. It is very considerate, as it about organising everything so that when you are die no one has to sort out your unholy mess.
Living well does mean accepting death, I am sure. Theoretically, all lifestyle is a preparation for death.
source
*
The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning// How to Make Your Loved Ones’ Lives Easier and Your Own Life More Pleasant // By Margareta Magnusson
Funny, wise, and deeply practical, Swedish artist Margareta Magnusson offers advice on how to declutter your home and minimize your worldly possessions so your loved ones don’t have to do it for you.
In Swedish there is a word for it: Döstädning, “dö” means “death” and “städning” means “cleaning.” The idea behind death cleaning is to remove unnecessary things and get your home in order as you become older. But this word also can be applied whenever you do a thorough cleaning, to make your life easier and more pleasant. It does not necessarily have to do with age or death. If you can hardly close your drawers or shut your closet doors, it is time to do something about your stuff.
***
http://bookworm-quotes.blogspot.com/2015/10/hygge-heart-warming-lesson-from-denmark.html
MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2015
Hygge: A heart-warming lesson from Denmark
Hygge was never meant to be translated - it was meant to be felt
Sitting by the fire on a cold night, wearing a woolly jumper, while drinking mulled wine and stroking a dog - probably surrounded by candles. That's definitely "hygge".
Eating home-made cinnamon pastries.
Watching TV under a duvet.
Tea served in a china set.
Family get-togethers at Christmas.
They're all hygge too.
The Danish word, pronounced "hoo-ga" Danish, hygge (pronounced “HUE-gah”), is usually translated into English as "cosiness". But it's much more than that, say its aficionados - an entire attitude to life that helps Denmark to vie with Switzerland and Iceland to be the world's happiest country.
Morley College, in central London, is teaching students how to achieve hygge as part of its Danish language course. "We have long, cold winters in Denmark," says lecturer Susanne Nilsson. "That influences things. Hygge doesn't have to be a winter-only thing, but the weather isn't that good for much of the year."
With as little as four sunshine hours a day in the depths of winter, and average temperatures hovering around 0C, people spend more time indoors as a result, says Nilsson, meaning there's greater focus on home entertaining:
"Hygge could be families and friends getting together for a meal, with the lighting dimmed, or it could be time spent on your own reading a good book. It works best when there's not too large an empty space around the person or people."
The idea is to relax and feel as at-home as possible, forgetting life's worries.
"The rest of the world seems to be slowly waking up to what Danes have been wise to for generations - that having a relaxed, cosy time with friends and family, often with coffee, cake or beer, can be good for the soul," says Helen Russell, author of The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country.
"Hygge seems to me to be about being kind to yourself - indulging, having a nice time, not punishing or denying yourself anything. All very useful come January when in the UK everyone's on diets or manically exercising or abstaining from alcohol.
"There isn't so much enforced deprivation in Denmark. Instead you're kinder to yourselves and so each other. Danes don't binge then purge - there's not much yo-yo dieting in Denmark."
The adjectival form of hygge is "hyggeligt", a word offered as a compliment to a host after a pleasant evening at their home.
"Hygge isn't just a middle-class thing. Absolutely everyone's at it from my dustbin man to the mayor," says Russell. "Hygge is so crucial to living Danishly that the other day on the motorway, I saw a camper van driving along with lit candles in the windows. This is probably illegal but Vikings don't tend to be too hung up on health and safety.
"My most hygge experience to date was probably watching the sun set from a hot tub in a blizzard in January, beer in hand. But it needn't be anything quite so dramatic. I generally light a candle at my home office desk while I'm working."
Origin of 'Hygge'
• Term comes from a Norwegian word meaning "wellbeing"
• First appeared in Danish writing in the 19th Century and has since evolved into the cultural idea known in Denmark today
"It's interesting that the word doesn't really translate into other languages. Hygge isn't restricted to Denmark, so why is it so hard to describe without borrowing a Danish word?"
It sounds a bit like the English word "hug", for which the Oxford English Dictionary lists no origins. The 19th/early 20th Century philologist Walter William Skeat thought it might be of Scandinavian origin. Notionally the effect of hygge and a hug is similar - comforting and secure. An obsolete meaning of hug is "to cherish oneself; to keep or make oneself snug", according to the OED.
Sometimes you see or do things that you would call 'hyggeligt' in the UK but you wouldn't use that word to describe them because people wouldn't know what you're talking about.
Some older Danes feel that hygge isn't what it used to be, as the stress on socialising has lessened. It's now generally considered hyggeligt to watch TV alone or watching a DVD set, perhaps while eating crisps.
Other countries and cultures have similar expressions. In German there's Gemutlichkeit, a sense of wellbeing based on good food, company and perhaps a drink. But Danes insist hygge is unique.
The blogger Anna Lea West, has offered "cosiness of the soul" as an English definition.
"Hygge was never meant to be translated. It was meant to be felt," translator ToveMaren Stakkestad has written. Maybe the only way to understand this slippery cultural idea is to visit Denmark, rather than read about it.
"It's an idea so rooted in the Danish sense of togetherness, and perhaps even in Denmark's social democracy, that a Brit might struggle to grasp its historic and social significance," says Patrick Kingsley, author of the travel book How To Be Danish.
"But that said, in essence hygge is about a group of slightly gloomy friends huddling under the duvet on a cold winter's night."
source
* * *
UPD Feb.2017:
See the article:
TreeHugger correct version would say a) do not burn wood fires because of the particulate pollution they cause and b) do not burn candles because of indoor air quality. But warm socks are OK.
Facebook comment here:
Mik Belù: It is a misunderstanding that hygge is a winter state of mind. Hygge just means enjoying the simple pleasures in life, preferably in good company. You can do that on a summer's day. And you don't need to buy hygge paraphernalia. That's something lifestyle magazines have made you do. Hygge is a state of mind, a way of enjoying and sharing the little things and the simple things that make life richer.