technique

Are you one of those people who can’t wait to get home, either every day or at the weekend, to take refuge in the cozy embrace of home or do you identify more with those who find any excuse to go out because “they drop the house above»? Perhaps the answer is not in you but in the effect that your house produces in you or, in other words, in the hygge. Hygge is the art of creating a cozy atmosphere that goes beyond what can be captured with the senses (decoration, colors, aromas, accessories, furniture, textures…) because it consists of being with the people we love and having the feeling that we are safe and can guard down.

You may be having an endless conversation about the little or the big things in life, you may be sharing a comfortable silence with your partner or family, or all you do is be with yourself, enjoying a coffee. We talk about the feeling of home since hygge consists of turning a house into a home, in a place where we find comfort and connection, as he explains
Mike Wikingdirector of the Institute for the Pursuit of Happiness in Copenhagen and author of the work
‘Hygge home’ (Dome Books). We spoke with him to find out how to design a hygge home.

What is for you the essence of hygge?

Hygge is the art of creating a warm and pleasant environment. One of my memories of a hygge moment was the one that lived a few years ago. He was spending the weekend with some friends in an old cabin in Sweden. When the sun went down, around four in the afternoon (we wouldn’t see it again for 17 hours) we headed home to light the fire. We were all tired and half asleep, sitting in a semicircle around the fireplace in the cabin, dressed in big jumpers and woolen socks. The only sounds to be heard were those of the stew boiling, the sparks from the fireplace, and the occasional sip of enjoying mulled wine. Then one of my friends said, “Could you be more hygge?”… “Yeah,” one of the girls replied. “If there was a storm outside.” Hygge is also a feeling of safety in a troubled world.

How can this essence be transferred to the day to day?

Actually Hygge is what turns a house into a home. It’s about connecting with loved ones. He is all about enjoying life and enjoying the simple pleasures in life. She begins by understanding that the way he designs his home affects the way one behaves and feels.

An example of this was given to me by one of my readers who told me that a small change in the family table meant a transformation in the way I interacted with them. It all came about because in my first book, ‘The book of Hygge’, I wrote about the importance of candles to de-stress. Some time after that person was published he wrote to tell me that he had gone out to buy chandeliers to light at dinner time after reading to me. His three teenage children made fun of him, but then, over time, they started lighting them and it became a family ritual. Suddenly, family dinners lasted 15 or 20 minutes longer because the candlelight put the kids in a talkative frame of mind. Instead of eating quickly, they would take their time and talk about their day. Admittedly this is somewhat anecdotal, but I think it’s interesting to hear how something small like a candle can influence how a family interacts. And no, I don’t think candles will save the world, but maybe they can make a family moment a little more hygge.

What does a cozy and happy home look like?

One that is full of love and laughter.

What are the signs that the place we live in does not make us happy?

Our home impacts how we feel and how we act. At the Happiness Research Institute we carried out a large study of the connection between our homes with responses from more than 13,000 people in 10 European countries, including Spain. And we found that about 15 percent of your overall happiness is influenced by your home, and that was even before the pandemic. I think we spend even more time in our homes now than before.

Where do I have to start if I want to increase well-being at home?

I would start by analyzing how the different places you visit make you feel. Then you should ask yourself: “Why in the home of one of my friends I feel better than another?” “What is my favorite coffee shop like and why do I feel so good in it?”… We have to see how different places affect our mood and then we can replicate at home what we like about them. The next step would be to understand the importance of lighting, both from artificial and natural light. In the book ‘Hygge home’ I go into detail about this: lighting is very important because it has a great influence on the atmosphere of the home and also on the mood.

What can create a bad environment?

We can see from our studies that the factor that makes most people unhappy with their home is that they feel it is messy or cluttered. Therefore, it is important to have a feeling of space in the home: you can think vertically (for example, you can create a small cupboard under the stairs), add natural light (which creates a greater feeling of space), or declutter ( get rid of things that are not used). In the book I also go into detail about the pre-clutter, that is, what can help us avoid buying things that are not needed.

What resources can make the rooms of the house more pleasant and comfortable?

Here I can contribute three little tricks, although there are many more in the work:

Kitchen. We must establish the ‘retirement shelf’ in the refrigerator, which is the one that houses the food that will be eaten that day or the next day. It has to be the first thing you see when you open the fridge to include it in the next lunch or dinner. With that we will avoid finding old leftovers or expired products behind the jam jars.

Bedroom. There should be no television in the bedrooms for anyone. If you put a television in your child’s room at age 7, four years later, the child has a 25% increased risk of being overweight.

Living room. Design the space for connection. In the book I write a lot about how to connect with loved ones, how to have better conversations and more enjoyable family dinners. This includes the use of board games, candles, conversation cards…

What is the room in the house that needs the most care and why?

The cocina. Something that can be enriching is inviting some friends or relatives to cook together. Home cooked meals and family dinners include some of the best ingredients to cook up some happiness at home. Teens from families that often have family dinners have better grades, better communication skills, fewer symptoms of depression, and a stronger sense of belonging. My hope for readers of the book is that it ignites their understanding that the good life is about connection and purpose and the simple pleasures of every day. That our wealth is not measured by the size of our bank accounts, but by the strength of our ties, the health of our loved ones, and the sound of stew simmering on the stove.

How important is natural light?

Very important. We know from the World Health Organization that inadequate daylight is associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms.

And the plants?

Access to nature, whether it’s in your garden or simply adding plants to the interior of your home, will have a positive impact on your well-being. This may be proof of this: several studies show that people recover faster from surgery in hospitals if they have a view of nature from their hospital bed.

What is the Cézanne effect and what are its most important points?

The Cézanne effect is that a place can motivate you to do something, to have a certain behavior. As Churchill said, we shape our buildings and then they shape us. You can use that to your advantage by designing a room that leads you to do the things you would like to do.

The story of Meik Wiking

Executive director of the Institute for the Pursuit of Happiness in Copenhagen, associate researcher for Denmark in the World Happiness Database and founding member of the Latin American Network of Well-being and Quality of Life Policies. He has a degree in Business and Political Science and previously worked for the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for the company Vilstrup Research and as director of the think-tank Monday Morning. He has written reports on happiness, subjective well-being, and quality of life. He is director of the Museum of Happiness in Copenhagen and lectures all over the world. He is the author of ‘Hygge. Happiness in the little things’, ‘Lykke’ and ‘The art of creating memories’, all from Libros Cúpula.

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