9 Ways to Live Your Best Hygge Life

As the long winter nights begin, many are finding comfort in simple pleasures like a warm drink, spending time with family or, a pleasure Friends members know well, settling down with a good book. If this is all a little new to you, have no fear, the Danish have been doing it for centuries and have perfected the art of the cozy night. They call it hygge and are happy to share what they know with us, according to the Danish Ambassador to Canada.

The word hygge is not a simple translation into English, but at the heart of the concept is finding happiness through comfort and coziness. Friends has rounded up nine simple ways for you to start living your best hygge life today:

1. Dive into your favourite comfy clothes. Have a well-loved but very worn sweater? No worries, it’s your hygge sweater now.
2. Make some baked goodies, partly for the smell and partly to enjoy.
3. Start making your way through your tea stash.
4. Turn on the radio. Yes, the real radio. Maybe you’ll hear a song or story you were not expecting.
5. Light up a candle or just turn the lights down low.
6. Make time to connect with a good friend. Warm someone else by phoning a friend or even writing them a letter.
7. Blankets blankets blankets. Bonus, save on your heating bill.
8. Unplug. Put your devices in another room.
9. Finally, get inspired with books from the VPL’s collection, avaliable in many different languages:
   • The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well by Meik Wiking
     • 我們最快樂 – Wo men zui kuai le (Traditional Chinese)
     • Săn tìm hạnh phúc: săn tìm Lykke (Vietnamese)
     • 휘게 라이프, 편안 하게 함께 따뜻 하게 – Hwige raip’ŭ, p’yŏnan hage hamkke ttattŭt hage (Korean)
     • Le livre du hygge (French)
     • Hygge: a felicidad en las pequeñas cosas (Spanish)
     • Hygge: klucz do szczęścia (Polish)
     • Hygge: sekret datskogo schastʹi͡a (Russian)
     • Hygge: ein Lebensgefühl, das einfach glücklich macht (German)
   • Hygge: the Dutch Art of Happines by Marie Tourell Søderberg
     • lian xi Danmai xin fu zhe xue  (Chinese Collection)
     • Hạnh phúc từ những điều nhỏ bé nghệ thuật sống của người Đan Mạch (Vietnamese)
   • The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Contentment, Comfort, and Connection by Louisa Thomsen Brits
     
   • Making Winter: A Hygge-inspired Guide for Surviving the Winter Months by Emma Mitchell
   • Hygge: Celebration of Simple Pleasures, Living the Danish Way by Charlotte Abrahams
   • And many more!