I learned about this word yesterday. I’ve seen it circulating, but I didn’t know what it meant until yesterday when someone posted about it in my Brave Writer group (I’m always learning in there!).
This is the “definition” by Hygge House:
“It literally only requires consciousness, a certain slowness, and the ability to not just be present – but recognize and enjoy the present. That’s why so many people distill ‘hygge’ down to being a ‘feeling’ – because if you don’t feel hygge, you probably aren’t using the word right.
Another definition of hygge is “an art of creating intimacy” (either with yourself, friends and your home). While there’s no one English word or simple definition to describe hygge, several can be used interchangeably to describe the idea of hygge such as cosiness, charm, happiness, ‘contentness’, security, familiarity, comfort, reassurance, kinship, and simpleness.”
This is exactly how I try to live my life (for years), but I didn’t realize there was a word for it.
It’s a Danish word with ties to being content in life by simpleness.
I’m super excited to learn more about it!
Here are some ways in which I live a Hygge lifestyle:
- I always, always have candles lit.
- I take everything slowly each day, including our homeschooling time.
- I come up with our own homeschooling lesson plans and keep it pretty simple.
- Everything in our home is decorated in a way that brings warmth and comfort to not only our family, but everyone around us. We always get compliments about it.
- We are a home that welcomes people in for coffee or a meal, and we love on them in many ways.
- I make things mostly homemade to bring nutritious food, but also because it tastes better and is less expensive.
- I try to be minimalist-ish. I continually go through our things and get rid of stuff. I try to keep things organized and simple. But I also don’t want this to be an end-all, be-all to life.
- My favorite forms of movement are hiking (being in nature) and yoga (slow movement).
- Camping with Robert alone and with the family.
- I love lamp light because it’s more warm and cozy.
- I love beautiful things.
- I love our morning time of reading aloud to the kids and learning in context. Poetry teatime is amazing. It’s my favorite part of our week.
- I focus on Wild + Free and Bravelearner homeschooling.
- We try to stay home most of the time. We go to town about once a week.
- We love the mountains and love living in the Hill Country, in the middle of nowhere.
- I budget simply and use cash for most things (other than bills).
- Intentionality and purpose
- Self care
- Gratitude
- Enjoying the little things
- Essential oils (not all the time because it can affect my cough, but sometimes!)
- A hot bath each night with epsom salt
I just bought this book:
I’m pretty excited to receive this! I plan to buy more Hygge books over time.
I’m going to try to post less pictures and focus on simplicity and intentionality in my posting. I’m also almost out of storage for pictures these days because I post so much! So here we are!
Simply Courtney 