「 H y g g e 」

「 H y g g e 」

Denmark is considered as the most happiness country in this planet. As revealed, apart of their high standard condition of living, Danish also includes Hygge as one of the factor towards their happiness and contentment.

Oxford Dictionaries defines hygge, pronounced "hoogah", as: "A quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture)."

There are a ton of newspapers and blog wrote about how to engage the lifestyle into ours, but very limited amount about doing hygge in a tropical country. As a Asian, who live almost 24/7 between 18-30c, i have to dig in more and make a short summary.

Hygge is a state of mind, such as being at home with friends and family, sharing a meal with them... Feeling comfortable, warm, and belonged all at once.

Here is my top 10 tips of being Hygge in a tropical country/ summer:

1. Focus on having quality time with company. Being around for a talk, board game.

2. Nature is your new best friend. Add plant and flower into your living room. You should surround yourself with plants, a healing energy to both physic and mental.

3. Declutter.

4. Soft and relaxing music.

5. Spend time for your hobby (reading book, painting, watching moives,...) with your favorite drink. Sound like a relaxing weekend plan right? But believe me, it brings out inner peace and satisfaction.

6. Creating a comfortable home space: spend on soft cushion, corporate neutral pantone into your home, decor with string lights or candle lights for a nice inviting surrounding for friends and family.

7. Finding time to unwind your mind. Taking a luxury bath time, soothing your mind and soul.

8. Spending weekend at the park, make a picnic between books and friends.

9. Gotta spend extra money for your sleep. Curtain to block the hotness of the morning, favorite pattern in bedsheets, silk pillow cover.

10. Have you ever heard of Ikigai?

In some ways, Ikigai is the antithesis of hygge. Instead of encouraging us to slow down, it's about find striving to find purpose in life, or raison d'etre to use a French equivalent. As such, it is a notion often adopted by those unhappy at work or who have retired. The word is composed in Japanese using the characters iki, or life, and kai, meaning the result of a certain action," explains Hector Garcia, the co-author of Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life.

This all sounds rather fluffy. But studies show that losing one's purpose can have a detrimental effect. "Your Ikigai is at the intersection of what you are good at and what you love doing."

(Cre: Independent, UK "Is ikigai the new hygge?the Japansese concepts of finding purpose in our life")