That was my search term: ‘Danish custom in winter’ . . . . . search result: ‘Hygge, a prominent Danish custom during winter is "hygge," which emphasizes creating a cozy and comfortable atmosphere with family and friends, often involving candles, warm drinks, and enjoying the simple pleasures of being together, essentially finding joy in the cold winter months.’ Thank you AI Overview. You are too cool. I thought it was something like that.
Hygge (pronounced "hyugah") is for me. I’m not Danish I’m English, hereditarily speaking, but I think I can adopt this tradition. The English probly have a similar tradition for the long cold nights. Gathering at the pub certainly.
I just sit around my hearth, I mean my altar, I mean my computer and commune. Listen to music and read and write and connect with people. In fact it’s the first thing I do when I get up in the morning. Well, after feeding the cats of course. And the fish. And that’s where I am now, in front of my computer, waiting for dawn. My hygge.
Listening to old rohn reports and laughing. Ha! A message from myself. Outside my window dawn peeks thru with pink light and the house lights go on, the cars turn on their lights, red and white, and get going down the still dark streets. When the sun rises and warms up the world, I’ll get on my bike and roll down to the pub, I mean the cafe and find my hot comforting drink and convive with the good folk there. Especially the baristas, they will talk to you.
Hygge. In Denmark, brrr, hygge means informal time around the fire with family and friends, probably beer, definitely food, and basically hanging out in a spirit of goodwill, a feeling of consensus, and a touch of gratitude for all things. But the spirit of hygge can be invoked in solitude too. Just sit yourself down and enjoy yourself.
How much better is silence; the coffee cup, the table. How much better to sit by myself like the solitary sea-bird that opens its wings on the stake. Let me sit here for ever with bare things, this coffee cup, this knife, this fork, things in themselves, myself being myself. ~Virginia Woolf
I’m all in about hygge, being often sequestered, hanging out at home, enjoying the day in a purposeful, scheduled, agenda type way. Enjoy the day. Oh, check. Take a hot shower and have a nice rice cake with maple syrup and tahini. Do some yoga on the rug. Do everything in a rhythm, the rhythm of enjoying the day.
The cold, dark, wet Danish winters inspire this coming together, one might assume. It probly has an ancient past, back to the Viking days and before. The word hygge is a derivate of an Old Norse term that relates to fire, warmth and the light that it produces and the protection that it brings from outside dangers like probly wolves and things. I can imagine gathering around that ancient fire in cold old Denmark and remarking with friends, kidding around, staying warm around the fire and alert. Present is the word. You have to be present to do hygge.
Present and accounted for here sweet Lord. Hyggeing away in my domicile. Smoke curling up from the campfire. Some kind of smoke. Talking to the whole world on my rohn report, preaching the gospel of rohn, commiserating and over accommodating and supplicating and hopefully totally liberating my own soul.
Hyggeate. Can we make this a verb? Can we make this a trend? A stopover on the way to freedom, as in true personal freedom, as in freedom from fear, freedom from resentment, from not being ok in any way. The freedom to be who we are - our own sweet selves. Everything else is prelude. The freedom to enjoy the moment. Freedom to be ok. Ok. Hyggeration. A noun.
Lot’s of people writing about hygge, trying to describe it. Here’s one ‘Hygge: The Art of Cozy’. But whether you have candles or not (they are a fire hazard), whether you have hot chocolate or mulled wine or pastry cakes or whatever, whether you have porridge or granola, it’s a creative exercise, do it your own way. Find your comfort zone and hang out there. That’s what I do.
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podcast music :: 00-10:55 thank you Hiroshi Yoshimura for the amazing music
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