So whether you’re a longtime hygge fan or you’re just discovering the joys of coziness and contentment, there’s something about hygge that speaks to all of us. And that, my friend, is why it’s so popular! What is the hygge lifestyle? A case in point is Pia Kjærsgaard, the founder of the anti-immigration, anti-Brussels Danish People’s Party, which is currently the second-largest party in parliament. Kjærsgaard has subtly projected herself as the protector of Danish hygge against the unknown forces of the globalised world. According to Nors: “Hygge is part of the whole set-up of the radical right wing in Denmark. Their commercials will have all the emblematic hygge symbols.” Add soft lighting as this can help create an intimate atmosphere in your home. There are plenty of affordable options available that will work well with any décor style.

The hygge mood is all about feeling cozy, comfortable, and content. It’s that feeling you get when you’re surrounded by things that make you happy, like a warm blanket, a hot drink, and your favorite book or movie.The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.”– Ludwig Wittgenstein If you have a lot of clutter in your living room or kitchen, try organising it so that it looks less cluttered and more like a cosy space where friends would want to hang out. A clean home is always a welcoming one.

While hygge had many variations, depending on whom you asked, it was always anti-modern, and always tinged with nostalgia. Your mobile phone is not hygge. In its native form, hygge is regarded as essentially uncommercial, and by definition modest; yet at the same time it is helped along by certain consumer props – especially candles or gently glowing lamps. A family relaxing together around a candlelit table epitomises hygge. Photograph: Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images Hygge offers space for both reverie and relatedness. The heat of an open fire draws us close. Its shadow gives us a place to hide and softens our gaze.” – Louisa Thomsen Brits Candles can cause respiratory issues if you burn too many scented or petroleum-based candles. Go for beeswax candles that not only burn longer and cleaner but actually help detoxify the air in your home. It’s a way of life that’s all about creating a welcoming and relaxing atmosphere, indulging in simple pleasures, and finding joy in the little things.We’ve got more than a few winter hygge ideas, activities, and tips that will show you how to enjoy winter even if you normally hate it. What is a Hygge Winter? Since we spend a third, if not half, of our lives in bed, this room is vital for creating a warm and cozy feeling of hygge. It is not only the start of your day when you open your eyes, but it is the last area surrounding you each night. Did you know that at the heart of winter, Scandinavian countries average 4 to 5 average hours of daylight? And their temperatures average between 0 and -15 degrees celsius. What freedom is to Americans, thoroughness to Germans, and the stiff upper lip to the British, hygge is to Danes.” – Meik Wiking And let’s be real – hygge is just plain fun! Who doesn’t love a cozy night in, surrounded by good food, good company, and warm blankets? It’s a simple pleasure that can bring a lot of joy into our lives.

When you’re looking to make your home more welcoming, remember that the most important factor is the people who live in it. You CAN find outdoor activities that will make you happy, and the Danes know this to be true, considering more than half their year is spent at freezing temps or below. What’s their secret, be prepared… Get some plants! Plants are great for adding colour and life to any room, and they help make the air feel fresher and cleaner. So if you’re ever feeling stressed or overwhelmed, just remember that there’s always a little hygge to be found! Best hygge quotes Carsten Levisen asked me if I thought the appetite for hygge in Britain was partly about a fantasy of what Britain might have become, if it had had the chance: Denmark as a kind of alternative, but squandered, possible future. Perhaps, but if he is right, it would be a wonderful contradiction. When Britons are asked whether they want a stronger welfare state and more equality – the basics of a more hyggelig life – they tend to vote “no” pretty hard. Britain is hungry for the accoutrements of hygge, but not the costs – such as high taxation – that come with it.

The hygge way of eating is all about indulging mindfully.

To hold twilight or watch it darken, describes the pleasure we take in pausing to observe as day slips into night. To stand at our window, wrapped in the half-dark and watch the day disappear… is a moment of hygge.” – Louisa Thomsen Brits And of course, there’s the fact that hygge is just plain fun! Who doesn’t love a cozy night in, surrounded by good food, good company, and warm blankets? It’s a simple pleasure that can bring a lot of joy into our lives.

If you can’t do regular candles, there are a lot of great realistic-looking battery-operated candle options now too! Music

How do you make a hygge living room?

Valentine’s aim was paradoxical: to publish books that would be bought by people who “aren’t book-buyers”. Hygge seemed like a perfect distillation of popular lifestyle obsessions – beginning with mindfulness, “which has moved beyond being a publishing phenomenon and into being a way of life, and has fed into so many trends, like healthy-eating books and adult colouring books.” She added: “It seemed to tie into an interest in digital detox, too.” So many recent fashions, she said, had been about self-discipline and self-deprivation – tidying up, “clean” eating. Hygge “was an antidote to all that”. Almost nothing written about hygge in Britain suggests that it has a troubling side. Wiking’s book does mention that hygge may sometimes feel excluding to outsiders. “It would be considered less hyggelig if there were too many new people at an event.” Foreigners, he told me, find it hard to penetrate tight-knit Danish social circles: hygge can only really exist within groups who know each other already. But he stops well short of the kind of critique that, for instance, Dorthe Nors brought to bear when we spoke. “Somewhere along the way, hygge became a form of social control,” said the Danish author, whose novel Mirror, Shoulder, Signal will be published in Britain in February. “It’s a little like ‘feel-good’ in America – the cult of the ‘feel-good’ book or the ‘feel-good’ movie. It’s a cocoon.” That means making sure everyone has their own space, but also that they feel like they belong together. Here are some winter hygge ideas to help you get started. A Hygge Winter: Hygge Ideas and Activities