Contemporary Authors

• The Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World's Happiest People - 2017 Morrow, NYC
• The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living - 2017 Penguin , NYC

• Happiness Research Institute - https://www.happinessresearchinstitute.com/people

  Meik Wiking is CEO of The Happiness Research Institute, Research Associate for Denmark at the World Database of Happiness and Founding member of The Latin American Network for Wellbeing and Quality of Life Policies. He holds degree in business and political science and has previously worked for the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vilstrup Research and as a director for the think tank Monday Morning. Meik Wiking has written several books and reports on happiness, subjective well-being and quality of life and is often used as a public speaker around the world.

• Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/meik-wiking-ab84a72/

  Meik Wiking
  Meik Wiking

  CEO at The Happiness Research Institute

  Copenhagen Area, Capital Region, Denmark
  Think Tanks

  Current

  The Happiness Research Institute

  Previous

  Monday Morning, Mandag Morgen, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark

  Recommendations 2 people have recommended Meik Wiking

  Experience

  The Happiness Research Institute
  CEO
  The Happiness Research Institute
  January 2013 – Present (5 years 3 months)

  The Happiness Research Institute is an independent think tank exploring why some societies are happier than others.Our mission is to inform decision makers of the causes and effects of human happiness, make subjective well-being part of the public policy debate, and improve the quality of life for citizens across the world. Find out more at www.happinessresearchinstitute.com
  Monday Morning
  International Director
  Monday Morning
  February 2010 – December 2012 (2 years 11 months)
  Monday Morning
  Project Director
  Monday Morning
  October 2009 – February 2010 (5 months)
  Mandag Morgen
  Project Manager
  Mandag Morgen
  August 2006 – October 2009 (3 years 3 months)
  Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark
  Student Assistant
  Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark
  September 2005 – July 2006 (11 months)
  Youth Red Cross
  Frivillig - Ungdområdgiver (Ung På Linie)
  Youth Red Cross
  August 2002 – September 2004 (2 years 2 months)

  Skills

  SustainabilityCorporate Social ResponsibilityAnalysisEntrepreneurshipEditingBusiness DevelopmentSustainable DevelopmentPoliticsHappiness EconomicsStrategic CommunicationsInternational DevelopmentStrategyClimate ChangeSocial EntrepreneurshipProject ManagementSee 11+

  How's this translation?

  Great•Has errors

  Publications

  Job Satisfaction Index 2016
  The Happiness Research Institute
  2016

  What drives well-being at work? Why are some employees happier than others? This report gives insight in how much our managers, results and our sense of purpose matter for well-being at work. Our jobs can - and should - be a source of joy, if workplaces are designed right. The study shows that we can now explain 71 percent of the differences in job satisfaction with six factors. The study was produced in a partnership among the trade union Krifa and The Happiness Research Institute.

  Authors:
  Meik Wiking

  The Little Book of Hygge - The Danish Way to Live Well
  Penguin Random House
  2016

  A The New York Times and The Sunday Times bestseller. Available in 30+ languages. 1 million+ copies sold.

  The Danish word hygge is one of those beautiful words that doesn't directly translate into English, but it more or less means comfort, warmth or togetherness.

  Hygge is the feeling you get when you are cuddled up on a sofa with a loved one, in warm knitted socks, in front of the fire, when it is dark, cold and stormy outside. It that feeling when you are sharing good, comfort food with your closest friends, by candle light and exchanging easy conversation. It is those cold, crisp blue sky mornings when the light through your window is just right.

  Denmark is the happiest nation in the world and Meik puts this largely down to them living the hygge way. They focus on the small things that really matter, spend more quality time with friends and family and enjoy the good things in life. The Little Book of Hygge will give you practical steps and tips to become more hygge: how to pick the right lighting, organise a dinner party and even how to dress hygge, all backed up by Meik's years' of research at the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen.

  Reviews:

  This year live more like a Dane, embrace hygge and become happier.
  the best qualified author (...) cosy and engaging (Sunday Express)

  Infectiously positive (...) the best beginner's guide (Mail on Sunday)

  this book explains everything you need to know about the Danish art of living well (Metro)

  Danish, dishy and the world's happiest man (this book) is gorgeously designed (Times)

  ever wondered why Denmark is always ranked one of the happiest places on earth? Well, that's down to hygge. And want to know what hygge is? Then read this book. (Daily Mail Ireland)

  a thorough and genuinely helpful little life bible that you'll find yourself coming back to time and again. Hooray for Hygge! (Heat)

  Authors:
  Meik Wiking

  Job Satisfaction Index 2015
  The Happiness Research Institute
  2015

  What drives well-being at work? Why are some employees happier than others? This report gives insight in how much our managers, results and our sense of purpose matter for well-being at work. Our jobs can - and should - be a source of joy, if workplaces are designed right. The study shows that we can now explain 71 percent of the differences in job satisfaction with six factors. The study was produced in a partnership among the trade union Krifa and The Happiness Research Institute.

  Authors:
  Meik Wiking

  Sustainable Happiness
  The Happiness Research Institute
  2015

  The World Happiness Report 2012, commissioned by the United Nations, noted that the tools of happiness research have the potential to recast the debate between economic growth and
  environmental protection. Moreover, it calls for an exploration of the established links between happiness and environmental sustainability. This report is an attempt to answer that call.

  Authors:
  Meik Wiking, Xavier Landes, Kjartan Sveistrup Andsbjerg, Cindie Unger

  The Happy Danes - Exploring the reasons for the high levels of happiness in Denmark
  The Happiness Research Institute
  February 2014

  Denmark is often named the world’s happiest country. But what are the reasons for the high levels of happiness in Denmark? For the first time, the reasons are explained in a comprehensive report, published by The Happiness Research Institute, a Copenhagen based think tank. The report “The report look at how a strong civil society, a good work-life balance, and a high level of social security are among the causes of happiness.

  Authors:
  Meik Wiking

  Sustainia Guide to Copenhagen 2025
  Monday Morning
  June 2012

  By 2025, the city of Copenhagen will be carbon neutral. This book shows what the city will look like be then. Portraying buildings, businesses, harbors, parks, and technologies which are planned for the future and being built today. It explains the philosophies behind the plans, which can be summed up as being built for people. Inspired by the guide book format, sections in the book include a chapter on Architecture taking the reader on a tour to interesting sights of sustainable architecture. Another chapter, Getting Around, takes you on a trip through the transportation system of the carbon neutral city – see how synergies created between biking, public transportation, electric vehicles and walking make this city and inspiration for others to follow. The book presents not only a more sustainable city, but a city that is smarter, healthier, more convenient - a city with a higher quality of life.

  Authors:
  Meik Wiking, Jakob Anker Hansen;, Solvej Karlshøj Christiansen

  Less Energy - More Growth
  Monday Morning
  January 2012

  This report describes the growth potential that comes from demanding more from less; why companies should form clusters, share knowledge and create a complete and exportable package of solutions; why energy efficiency is the shortest – and cheapest – way to cut emissions and reduce the demand for fossil fuels, and still holds a lot of potential in Denmark; why the future winners in the global business community will be those who adapt to a new energy-efficient reality; and what drive investments in energy efficiency.

  We will also stress that solutions are ready and available today. Throughout this report, you will be introduced to these Solutions of Today – existing solutions that will save energy and grow the economy. Solutions that make it possible to get more from less.

  Authors:
  Meik Wiking, Anders Wils, Solvej Karlshøj Christiansen

  Klimapartnerskaber og værdiskabelse
  Monday Morning & DONG Energy
  October 2011

  Rapporten stiller skarpt på klimapartnerskabets værdiskabelse og belyser samtidig den særlige samarbejdsmodel, som klimapartnerskabet er bygget op omkring. Modellen blev etableret ved det første Klimapartnerskab med Novo Nordisk i 2007. I dag tæller netværket mere end 100 partnere, der repræsenterer både private virksomheder, organisationer, kommuner og andre institutioner. Klimapartnerskaberne er blevet udviklet gennem årene og sammen med partnerne har vi udviklet spændende individuelle energi- og klimaløsninger.

  Authors:
  Meik Wiking, Anders Wils, Emilie Hvidtfeldt

  Copenhagen - Beyond Green: The socioeconomic benefits of being a green city
  Monday Morning
  October 2011

  The city of Copenhagen is well known as a green city. Through strategic urban planning and a history of environmental ambitions, Copenhagen has created swarms of cyclists, large recreational areas, a high share of renewable energy, clean water in its harbor, and a world class system of district heating and integrated public transportation.

  What is not as well known about being a green city are the social and economic benefits.

  This report examines the economic and social benefits of green initiatives in Copenhagen. What we have learned is that urban green investments offer benefits far beyond environmental. What we have found is evidence of how sustainable life can be more fun, more profitable, and healthier, than ordinary life.

  Authors:
  Meik Wiking

  Køreplan for klimarevolutionen
  Monday Morning
  March 2011

  Danmarks 100 vigtigste klimaaktører bakker massivt op om en gennemgribende klima- og energireform, der sigter på at gøre Danmark 100 pct. uafhængig af fossile brændsler. Det er hovedkonklusionen på Mandag Morgens stresstest af Klimakommissionens anbefalinger. Undersøgelsen afslører bred støtte til en langsigtet og ambitiøs klimastrategi, der omfatter afgifter og støtteordninger, grønne offentlige indkøb, strategisk forskning og planlægning samt fuldtonede satsninger på bl.a. vindenergi, intelligent energinet og biomasse.

  Authors:
  Meik Wiking, Anders Wils

• Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/10/the-little-book-of-lykke-meik-wiking-danish-happiest-people-digested-read

  The Little Book of Lykke: The Danish Search for the World’s Happiest People by Meik Wiking – digested read

  ‘I tend to be Lykke all the time. Especially now that I am beginning to make a lot of money out of being Lykke’
  John Crace

  John Crace
  @JohnJCrace

  Sun 10 Sep 2017 12.00 EDT
  Last modified on Thu 22 Feb 2018 09.50 EST

  Scandi-knit mitten thumbs-up... digested read illustration
  Illustration: Matthew Blease

  Hi everyone! It’s Happy Meik here. Remember me? I’m the bloke who wrote last year’s surprise bestseller about how everyone should try and be a bit more Hygge. Well now I’m back with a book about Lykke. Lykke means Happiness but my important work as chief executive of the International Happiness Research Centre in Copenhagen (total number of employees: one) has shown that people feel much happier if they call happiness Lykke rather than Happiness.

  People often ask me when I was at my most Lykke. That is a difficult question as I tend to be Lykke all the time. Especially now that I am beginning to make a lot of money out of being Lykke. But I really think I could have been most Lykke when I found a stale bit of pizza in the fridge after a day out skiing with friends. When I found the pizza I said to everyone, “I really think I’ve found the meaning of happiness. This is so Hygge it is Lykke.” And they replied, “Oh do shut the fuck up Meik.” So sweet.

  Copenhagen is probably the most Lykke place in the world. At five o’clock in the afternoon everyone leaves work, rides home on their bicycles, does two hours of creative play with their children, goes out to do a random act of kindness to a stranger who wants to be left in peace, lights five candles and then settles down to watch several episodes of a Scandi-noir TV thriller about some psychopathic paedophile on the loose.
  The Little Book of Lykke: The Danish Search for the World’s Happiest People Meik Weiking: Penguin Life
  The Little Book of Lykke (Penguin Life, £9.99)

  But my extensive research in my capacity as the chief executive of the International Happiness Research Centre in Copenhagen (total number of employees: one) has revealed that people from some other countries in the world are occasionally happy too. So in this book I am going tell you about some of my exciting discoveries that can make you Lykke too. But first an admission: I am not always Happy Meik. Sometimes I am Not-So-Happy Meik. I wasn’t very Lykke when I left my iPad on the aeroplane, but by realising it was OK not to be happy, I somehow made myself happy again. Here’s a picture of a sunset in Paris. That should help you feel Lykke.

  Togetherness: People who do things together are generally happier than people who do things on their own. I once spent five days observing how often people smiled outside a McDonald’s in Stuttgart and I conclusively proved that those who were on their own only smiled once every 36 minutes while those who were with friends smiled every 14 minutes. So if you want to be more Lykke, get out and do something with other people. And if you don’t know anyone, try climbing over a fence and sitting in someone else’s garden and wait for them to come home.

  Money: Most of us would rather have money than not have money. But my extensive research in my capacity as the chief executive of the International Happiness Research Centre in Copenhagen (total number of employees: one) has shown that money on its own doesn’t make you happy. In Denmark, we don’t have as much money as people in Seoul but the South Koreans are a miserable bunch. That’s because the Koreans have high expectations. They expect to have a new car every year and get depressed if they don’t. In Copenhagen we generally expect the worst to happen and if it doesn’t then we’re really Lykke. And we don’t buy new cars because there’s a 150% tax on them.
  The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking – digested read
  Read more

  Health: The Japanese have the longest life expectancy but it doesn’t make them happy as they are so worried about dying young. The average Danish person will die younger even than an overweight Brit because we are so busy stuffing our faces with cakes to make ourselves Hygge with one hand and riding a bike with the other. Better to be dead and Lykke than old and UnLykke.

  Freedom: Feeling as though you have choices and control over your life makes you feel Lykke. Who would have guessed? In many countries, parents feel trapped when they have young children but in Portugal they have a very different experience. That’s because Portuguese parents hand over their kids to the grandparents every night and go out and party. This makes them very Lykke. Even if it pisses off the grandparents no end.

  Co-operation: Being nice to people is Lykke. In Denmark we have a “Be Nice to Someone Hour” at 9.45 every morning that people have to enjoy or they are sent to prison. We also play games that try to make children feel included. In Britain, children play musical chairs where one chair is removed every time the music stops. This can make those children who lose feel bad. Far better to play the game by adding a chair every time the music stops. That way children become less and less stressed.

  Stating the Obvious: It may seem obvious to say this but stating the obvious for the best part of 300 pages can make you feel Lykke. Especially if someone is daft enough to pay to read it.

  Digested read, digested: No Lykke.

• Bookseller - https://www.thebookseller.com/profile/meik-wiking-385781

  Meik Wiking | An exploration of the Danish concept of hygge
  Published August 30, 2016 by Caroline Sanderson

  Share

  “Hygge is humble and slow. It is choosing rustic over new, simple over posh, and ambience over excitement.” There are numerous books with a distinctly Nordic flavour this autumn, as publishers jump on the Scandi-wagon and try to emulate the success of The Bookseller’s non-fiction Book of the Year, Norwegian Wood. And amid this log roll of titles, which encompasses lifestyle, cookery, craft and more, one word dominates: hygge. A Danish word of Norwegian origin; pronounced roughly “hoogah”, and hard to translate directly, it is variously defined as: “the art of creating intimacy”; “cosiness of the soul”; “taking pleasure from the presence of soothing things”; “cosy togetherness”; and, perhaps most evocatively of all, “cocoa by candlelight”. To name but a few titles we have How to Hygge: The Secrets of Nordic Living by Signe Johansen (Bluebird), Hygge: A Celebration of Simple Pleasures by Charlotte Abrahams (Trapeze), The Art of Hygge: How to Bring Danish Cosiness Into Your Life by Jonny Jackson & Elias Larson (Summersdale), and 26 Grains by Alex Hely-Hutchinson (Square Peg) which extols the joys of hygge bowl food, such as porridge.

  Meik Wiking, author of The Little Book of Hygge (Penguin) arguably has the most interesting qualification to write a book on the concept, however. He is chief exectuive of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, a think tank he founded in 2013 after noticing the increasing global attention being paid to happiness. In 2011, the UN published a resolution which stated that “the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental human goal”, and in 2012 it released its first World Happiness Report. Taking into account a number of factors including health, family and job security as well as social factors such as political freedom and government corruption, the report has been published every year since, and Denmark has topped the list four out of five times.

  “It occurred to me that somebody in Denmark should be trying to gather some intelligence because we’re doing so well in the happiness rankings,” Wiking tells me when we meet at Penguin HQ in London. He is an engaging, merry presence in his trademark tailored jacket with leather patches on the elbows (“for the hygge and for the professor look”). “And then I thought: maybe I should do that. In a matter of two months, I had quit my job, and I established the Happiness Research Institute shortly after that.” With the exception of his supportive father, Wiking’s friends thought he was crazy. “They said: ‘So you’re going to quit your well-paying steady job to study happiness?’ But honestly I can say now that it is the best career decision I have ever made. I perhaps work more than I used to and I earn less but I’m having a lot more fun. And I’ve found something I want to do for the next 40 or 50 years”.

  Three years on, The Happiness Research Institute works for foundations, unions, patient groups and various ministries in Denmark. Wiking also travels widely, talking to governments and organisations all over the world. Recently he met the newly appointed female minister of state for happiness in the United Arab Emirates.“Currently ranked 28th, they have a mission of becoming one of the five happiest countries by 2021.” South Korea—which has the second highest rate of suicide in the world—has been another country of focus. All the institute’s work boils down to the attempt to answer two questions: Why are some people happier than others? And how do we measure happiness? Wiking encounters plenty of scepticism about this work. “A lot of journalists say to me: how can you possibly measure a subjective thing like happiness? And I say: if I were studying depression would you ask me the same question? I am yet to hear a convincing argument why happiness should be the one thing in the world we cannot study in a scientific manner. Why should we not try to understand the thing that perhaps matters the most?”

  Initially, hygge—with its signature themes of good coffee, delicious cake, congenial company, red wine poured into hearty stews, and books read curled up by the fire while the rain hammers down outside—hardly sounds like a scientific concept. But Wiking believes it could be the missing link: the reason why Danes consistently top the world happiness rankings. While other countries have words with similar overtones— gemütlichkeit in Germany, koselig in Norway, hominess in Canada, gezellig in the Netherlands, for example— the concept of hygge is uniquely Danish, argues Wiking. “It’s an integral part of our cultural DNA: we talk about it tremendously often. Since I began researching the book, I’ve noticed just how much hygge comes up in everyday conversation. It’s like a mild form of Tourette’s”.

  Wiking had initially been at a loss to explain why Denmark consistently outperformed even its high-performing Nordic neighbours in the happiness rankings before he considered hygge as the missing piece of the puzzle. “I talk a lot about the Nordic welfare model and how our policies to encourage a good work-life balance and our traditional focus on the welfare state teach us the value of security and equality and community. Yes, we do pay some of the highest taxes in the world, but it’s interesting that there is so much public support for high taxation. We recognise the value in terms of happiness and security and quality of life that we get out of paying into the common pool. I think people in the Nordic countries now realise that an additional 1,000 kroner a month won’t matter in terms of quality of life. In many countries, the perception is that increased wealth means increased wellbeing, and in a poor country this is of course true for a while. But once you reach a certain point, the relationship between the two starts to decouple. “

  “I think it’s very important to underline that Denmark is by no means a utopia. We have a lot of issues, we have a lot of challenges. But what we have got right is the extent to which we have managed to mentally decouple wealth and wellbeing. And we also have this word, hygge…our language reflects our world. We shape our words, and thereafter they shape us, to paraphrase Churchill. Just having that word changes our behaviour and gives us something we can strive to achieve.”

  Wiking’s own happiness is enhanced he says, by “relationships and having a meaningful occupation. But also just by everyday activities. The more I go abroad, I more I appreciate being able to cycle to work in Copenhagen. It takes me five or six minutes, or the time it takes to listen to “Back in Black” by AC/DC on my headphones. And, well, I know it’s not glamorous but I like riding my bike down to the nearest park and lying under a tree and reading a book.”

  Wiking was contacted by Penguin and invited to write the book (in his almost flawless English without the need for a translator) at the beginning of this year. The Little Book of Hygge is as cosy as its competitors, with chapters on how to dress hygge, how to create a hygge Christmas; and recipes for such classic hygge dishes as “Braised Pork Cheeks in Dark Beer” and a lethal sounding mulled wine. Its slow living tenets are hardly earth-shattering. But after an hour talking to Wiking, I begin to realise that so many of our early 21st century publishing trends— baking books, colouring books, the homecraft boom, the Scandi-wagon—add up to a yearning for more cosiness; for an elusive quality which modern life often feels deficient in. For hygge perhaps?

  Metadata

  Publication: 01.09.16
  Formats: HB/EB
  ISBN: 9780241283912/9780241283936
  Rights: sold in the US, Germany, Spain, Japan, Poland, Russia and Korea
  Editor: Emily Robertson, Penguin Life

• Business Inside - http://www.businessinsider.com/happiness-expert-meik-wiking-on-hygge-and-hugs-denmark-happiest-country-2016-9

  QUOTED: "I think more and more people - more and more countries - are coming to a point where we are questioning the way of measuring happiness."
  "I think people are getting to the realization that we have decoupled wealth and well being, and have failed to convert wealth into well being—at a country level, and also very much at an individual level. I see that a lot with South East Asian countries. South Korea is the country I get most visits from, because they've had tremendous growth and tremendous wealth increase but are really struggling with converting that into quality of life."
  "The world is getting happier, if you look at the "World Happiness Report." For example South America is progressing, there are some pockets where it's going in one direction but overall from a global point of view but I think the UK, Denmark, USA, have been steady or even declining in the past decade."

  An expert reveals the secret to why Denmark is the happiest country in the world
  Thomas Colson
  Sep. 15, 2016, 7:29 AM
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  Meik Wiking Thomas Colson
  Meik Wiking — pronounced Mike Viking — believes that he has the secrets to happiness.

  And there is good reason to listen to him — he has become a leading expert on the matter since he founded The Happiness Research Institute of Copenhagen, a think tank which explores global trends of life satisfaction.

  Appropriately enough, Wiking hails from Denmark, the happiest country in the world. He believes that Danes consistently top happiness rankings because of one thing — hygge (pronounced hoo-gah), the subject of his new book.

  As Wiking says, pronouncing it is the easy part. Explaining it is more difficult. Roughly, it means "cosiness," but it goes much further than that.

  "Hygge has been called everything from 'the art of creating intimacy', 'cosiness of the soul,' and 'the absence of annoyance' to 'taking pleasure in the presence of soothing things,'" Wiking writes. People associate hygge with candlelight, hot chocolate, and log fires — but is there more to it?

  Business Insider met Wiking in London to hear more about his newly-released "Little Book of Hygge," which views happiness like an economy.

  Business Insider's Thomas Colson: I would like to hear a little about your background. How did you come to set up the Happiness Research Institute?

  Meik Wiking: I was working for a think tank in Copenhagen in a division that worked on sustainability. I was with them for seven years. But then two things happened. Firstly, I noticed how much was happening globally with regard to happiness. The UN passed a resolution on happiness in 2011, and the OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a global policy forum], quite a conservative organization, started to use life satisfaction as one of the indicators of social progress.
  World happiness rankings World Happiness Report

  People like the [former British prime minister] David Cameron were looking at incorporating life satisfaction as a way of measuring progress. And I just thought, there's really a lot happening globally with happiness research. There should be somebody in Denmark trying to pool all this knowledge, because we're doing quite well in happiness. And then I thought - maybe I should do that.

  At the same time my mentor at work - a good colleague and personal friend - became very ill and died at the age of 49. My own mother also died when she was 49. At that time I was 33, and I guess I was sort of demotivated in my job. And if I had fifteen years left, and you're only going to make it to 49, why not create something that could be really exciting?

  Two months afterwards I had quit, and then I established the Happiness Institute a month or two afterwards.

  TC: How does the methodology that goes into happiness research differ from conventional science?

  MW: To explain this, I like to use the analogy of the economy. When we talk about that, we can break it down into different components. We can talk about unemployment, inflation, growth, GDP per capita. That gives different information about how, for example, the British economy is doing. We need to be able to do the same thing when it comes to happiness.

  The OECD are trying to create standards to measure it: they basically ask organizations to break life satisfaction into three components. All these are based on direct assessment. Firstly, they would ask you or me how happy we feel or how satisfied we are with our lives in general. Secondly, they say you should measure emotions or moods on an everyday basis, both positive and negative ones — happiness, sadness, loneliness, depression, joy, anger, love.

  When we talk about the economy we can break it down into different components: unemployment, inflation, growth. We need to do the same thing with to happiness.

  We can all see that there is an strong correlation between those two dimensions. If you have a lot of positive emotions - even when they are a lot more volatile — you also report a lot higher levels of life satisfaction.

  The third dimension which is used in the surveys is whether people have a sense of purpose. And that is based on Aristotle's perception of happiness, about having a meaningful life. So those are the three dimensions we always measure.

  Having those three things gives me a better impression of how someone is doing than just one, and they also tell me different things. And you can then see how those different factors influence those three dimensions.

  That's especially useful if we follow people over time, seeing and asking a given person every year - how happy are you, measuring their sense of purpose. I see when changes happen over a lifetime. If that person doubles their income, if they move jobs, if they get sick, if they get married, what happens with the different happiness levels when these things happen. That is how we approach it.

  TC: And where did hygge fit into it? Was that an afterthought, or a part of your research?

  MW: That was an afterthought. One of the first things I tried to explore in this field was why Denmark does well in the happiness rankings. And we did a report on that a few years ago and one of the main explanations is that of the welfare state — social security, universal healthcare, and a universal pension.

  The trouble with that explanation, though, is that it does not explain why Denmark does better than the other Nordic countries. Now the other Nordic countries also do well in the happiness rankings, all Nordic countries are always in the top ten.

  And that's the Nordic welfare model. But why should Denmark do a little bit better than Norway, Finland and Sweden? They have the same welfare model. And then we took a look at hygge, which is something that is uniquely Danish, and we decided that could be the explanation for why Denmark does better than Sweden or Norway. So that's how it came about.

  TC: Why is Denmark's intake of antidepressants is higher than most countries, given that it is also ranked as the happiest country in the world?

  MW: It's 40% higher than the OECD average. It's ranked below Iceland, Australia, the UK, Portugal, Netherlands - Denmark comes seventh. We rank higher than the average but lower than the UK for instance. A lot of people think that is a paradox. The happiest countries in the world are not at the bottom of the list when it comes to antidepressants.

  But what a lot of people miss is who's at the bottom of the list. The countries at the bottom of the list are Eastern European countries where they have a lot of people who are depressed. They have some of the highest suicide rates in the world. The trouble is, they have people who are depressed but they're not getting treatment.

  If you just look at who's at the top of the list it looks like a bad story but the real story is, these countries recognize mental illness and try to treat it in some way. Then you should discuss, is this the right form of treatment? But being a society that acknowledges that people suffer from mental illnesses, and that we should try and do something about them? I think that's a good thing. A lot of people miss that - they just think it's a paradox.

  TC: Do you believe that hygge is something that can be exported to other countries? As you say, it's so ingrained in Danish culture, and it's all very well buying candles and having friends for dinner, but presumably you'd be the first to say that's only part of hygge.

  MW: I think you already are bringing it over! But you're right - the candles are perhaps more a manifestation of the hygge culture than they are a driver of it. I think it originates from something more fundamental, something about togetherness, equality, and community.

  Candles are a manifestation of hygge culture rather than a driver of it. I think it originates from something more fundamental: togetherness, equality, and community.

  And of course there's the question of the chicken and the egg - does hygge culture come first, or does community and togetherness? I think they're mutually reinforcing.

  I think the first step is just to start the conversation around hygge and ask, what is everyday happiness? How can we get to that? And we can start to talk about simple living, togetherness, and relationships.

  TC: Do you think people are starting to adjust the way they find happiness?

  MW: I think more and more people - more and more countries - are coming to a point where we are questioning the way of measuring happiness.

  I think people are getting to the realization that we have decoupled wealth and well being, and have failed to convert wealth into well being - at a country level, and also very much at an individual level. I see that a lot with South East Asian countries. South Korea is the country I get most visits from, because they've had tremendous growth and tremendous wealth increase but are really struggling with converting that into quality of life.

  So I think it's also part of that realization for people and for countries that what we have been driving after and for is not necessarily bringing us additional quality of life. I'm not saying there isn't a correlation between wealth and well being - there definitely is at the lower level scale. But I think at the wealth level that the UK or Denmark has achieved, the effects of wealth on well being have been lost.

  TC: So is the world getting happier?

  MW: The world is getting happier, if you look at the "World Happiness Report." For example South America is progressing, there are some pockets where it's going in one direction but overall from a global point of view but I think the UK, Denmark, USA, have been steady or even declining in the past decade.

  TC: Do your travels inspire you to pursue research projects?

  MW: I'm interested in the way we design cities, and how that affects our happiness. When it comes to the factors that affect our happiness, we can look at them in three different categories:

  1. There are some things we're not in control of. We're born more or less happy or unhappy, and we can not change that. Genetics matter.

  2. There are some factors - our Behaviour, lifestyle choices, we do have control over.

  3. Then, there is an area where we're only a little in control of policies we live under - the way cities are designed, for example. We have some say in that but not a lot.

  So we're trying to look at the policy at city-level. Here's an example: walking around in Kuala Lumpur I was staying 200 metres from the botanical gardens and I thought I'd go over there and have a look. And I had to give up because I couldn't go over there because there's no good infrastructure for cyclists or pedestrians. That would not happen in London, that would not happen in Copenhagen.

  So I think that will be a field for us - the way we design our cities, how does that affect our quality of life.

  TC: How would you measure the ultimate success of your institute?

  MW: Our ultimate aim is to provide a body of scientific knowledge that will enable us to increase quality of life for people, and to take that knowledge and convey it into recommendations for policy-makers.

  Right now, for example, we're working with a foundation in Denmark where we are looking at how different initiatives improve quality of life for 16 to 24-year-olds. So we ask, is there a strong correlation between life satisfaction and self-esteem, or between life satisfaction and relationships?

  Each year this institution gives away twelve million pounds, and a lot of the time that's based on "I think this works" or, "this sounds like a nice project". We would like to add the data into that equation, establishing what initiatives would work better than others. If we could just make the way the money is spent ten percent more efficient, in terms of investing in quality of life, that will go a long way. So that's our ambition in the end.

• Irish Times - https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/happiness-of-danes-not-just-happy-coincidence-1.2031382

  Happiness of Danes not just happy coincidence
  Since the 1970s Denmark has come top of the Eurobarometer survey on happiness. Here’s why
  Tue, Dec 23, 2014, 06:00
  Ann Marie Hourihane

  Meik Wiking, director of Denmark’s institute for happiness research: ‘I never worked so hard, earned so little or had so much fun.’ Photograph: Carlos Manuel Sánchez

  Meik Wiking, director of Denmark’s institute for happiness research: ‘I never worked so hard, earned so little or had so much fun.’ Photograph: Carlos Manuel Sánchez

  The interesting thing about Meik Wiking, who studies happiness, is that he’s terribly happy. In fact he’s never been happier. He loves his job as director of Denmark’s institute for happiness research, otherwise known as Institut fur Lykkeforskiving. This means that, even when you’re interviewing him in Copenhagen during a rainstorm, his passion for his subject makes you happy too.

  Meik Wiking’s name is pronounced Mike Viking, and he was a civil servant with the Danish ministry for foreign affairs, with a degree in public administration; a background that, he says, is no bad thing in his current work. “The subject of what drives happiness has moved from being a philosophical question to something that’s examined with an econometric approach,” he says.

  Studying happiness has had a marked affect on Wiking’s own life. “I prioritise social relationships,” he says. “I try to develop better networks. I meet with a few friends and we cook together. We men are not as good at remembering to see each other.”

  Happiness has become quite an undertaking, with both the UN and OECD performing large international studies to examine, as Wiking puts it, “what happy people have in common”.

  One of the things happy people have in common is that they live in Denmark, as Wiking does.

  Last month, scientists from the University of Warwick revealed that Danish people have the longest version of the gene that helps our brains to take up serotonin readily. The French have the shortest version of the gene. The Danes are so happy that the happiest people in the world are those whose genetic makeup is most similar to theirs.

  Since the 1970s Denmark has come top of the Eurobarometer survey on happiness, which is completed every six months. Ireland comes ninth.

  “Denmark is really good at helping extreme unhappiness,” says Meik. After all, relieving extreme unhappiness is what the welfare state was invented for, and Denmark has a generous welfare system.

  Antidepressants
  At the same time it has a high consumption of antidepressants. This is also, says Wiking, about having an interventionist attitude to unhappiness. He points out that Denmark has reduced its rate of suicide by two-thirds since its peak in 1980. The Danish suicide rate reached its lowest point of 12 per 100,000 in 2007, down from 32 per 100,000, and then picked up again in 2008, probably because of the economic catastrophe.

  At the moment the happiness institute is not investigating catastrophes such as suicide, but rather the nuts and bolts of everyday life. For example, work. It is conducting a survey about work, commissioned by one of the biggest trade unions in the country.

  “There is a misconception that happiness is something that happens outside work,” says Wiking. Danish work practices and management techniques take happiness very seriously indeed. “It just makes good sense,” he says, “that happy workers are productive workers. It’s part of the culture. There is a low level of hierarchy in the Danish workplace.”

  This comes partly, he thinks, from the Danish church, a form of Protestantism that emphasises community and equality.

  “Another theory is that we Danes have lost every war for the last 100 years, and that the country has got smaller and smaller and we’ve been forced to work together. The co-operative movement and the co-operative mindset is part of Danish society.”

  One of the main drivers of human happiness is a sense of meaning, or of purpose in life. If a person’s sense of purpose increases even very slightly it has a remarkable affect on their life satisfaction as a whole.

  Self-employed
  But Wiking’s recent research investigates self-employed people, who make up only one in 10 of Danish people. The self-employed have a slightly higher sense of purpose than regular employees.

  According to recent research conducted in Denmark, 26 per cent of self-employed people strongly agreed with the statement “I believe what I do has purpose” as opposed to 21 per cent of regular employees. Job satisfaction is generally found to be marginally higher among self-employed people: regular workers reported job satisfaction of of 7.3 and self-employed people reported job satisfaction of 7.9.

  Wiking is self-employed. “We need more self-employed,” he says. “We need more entrepreneurs. I feel this personally. I never worked so hard, earned so little or had so much fun.”

  But the factor that has the highest impact on your happiness is what the happiness researchers call your social relationships, or how connected you are with the world. “It has the highest of all correlations with happiness,” says Wiking. “Higher even than your general health.”

  Intervening to reduce people’s loneliness is one of the fastest ways to have an impact on the happiness of a population, he says.

  “The number-one silver bullets for this are our community gardens, which are open 24/7, and carry no stigma, not like having people visit you. Also, community gardens are used by many different groups from young mothers to [older people].”

  Perhaps we could raise our rate of opening community gardens, because the Danes are certainly going to.

QUOTED: "This little book is sure to bring a dose of happiness to all its readers."

The Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World's Happiest People
Enobong Essien
Booklist. 114.7 (Dec. 1, 2017): p5.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
The Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World's Happiest People.

By Meik Wiking.

Dec. 2017. 288p. illus. Morrow, 519.99 (9780062820334); e-book (9780062820341).

360.

In the sequel to his bestseller, The Little Book of Hygge (2017), Wiking, CEO of the Happiness-Research Institute, Copenhagen, expands his research from Denmark to encompass the world. Although the Danes may statistically be the happiest people on the planet, they do not hold a monopoly on happiness. From eating like the French to dancing tango like the Argentinians, there is much to be learned from diverse lands about how to live a more joyful and fulfilling life. Through research and case studies, Wiking presents six common denominators that determine happiness: togetherness and community, finances, health, freedom, trust, and kindness. With tongue-in-cheek humor, such as commenting on the delight Danes take in burning things, from candles to bonfires and villages, Wiking provides common-sense, real-life applications for his advice in a light-hearted, easy-to-read presentation laced with statistics and personal anecdotes in support of his findings. Whether it's used as a how-to or as inspirational reading, this little book is sure to bring a dose of happiness to all its readers.--Enobong Essien

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Essien, Enobong. "The Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World's Happiest People." Booklist, 1 Dec. 2017, p. 5. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A519036096/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=0f15cd63. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A519036096

QUOTED: "Readers who strongly support government's role in enhancing the health of citizens ... will most enjoy this book."

The Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World's Happiest People
Publishers Weekly. 264.47 (Nov. 20, 2017): p84.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World's Happiest People

Meik Wiking. Morrow, $19.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-06-282033-4

Wiking (The Little Book of Hygge), Danish research associate for the World Database of Happiness, brings a fresh policy angle to the well-worn happiness (in Danish, lykke) theme in this melange of anecdote, self-help suggestions, research studies, and political argument. He helpfully distinguishes between happiness's affective, or momentary, dimension and its cognitive, or long-term, one, emphasizing the latter. The author identifies the fundamentals of cognitive happiness as togetherness, money, freedom, health, trust, and kindness. In the section on money, for example, he cites studies as showing that the wealthiest nations are not necessarily the happiest, because societies have to know how to "turn wealth into well-being." High inequality of income, even in a wealthy country such as the U.S., makes people unhappy. Nordic countries like his own are happier, he writes, because "wide public support for a high level of taxation means a good return on quality of life." His conclusions in other sections are fuzzier and less actionable, such as "eat like the French" in "Togetherness" or "be more Amelie" in "Kindness." Readers who strongly support government's role in enhancing the health of citizens, rather than general self-help readers, will most enjoy this book. (Jan.)

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World's Happiest People." Publishers Weekly, 20 Nov. 2017, p. 84. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A517262129/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=4c08c5de. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A517262129

QUOTED: "A lot of journalists say to me: 'How can you possibly measure a subjective thing like happiness?' And I say: 'If I were studying depression would you ask me the same question? I am yet to hear a convincing argument why happiness should be the one thing in the world we cannot study in a scientific manner. Why should we not try to understand the thing that perhaps matters the most?'"
"Our language reflects our world. We shape our words, and thereafter they shape us, to paraphrase Churchill. Just having that word changes our behaviour and gives us something we can strive to achieve."

Meik Wiking: Caroline Sanderson gets cosy with the chief executive of the Happiness Research Institute to talk about the Danish concept of hygge
Caroline Sanderson
The Bookseller. .5718 (June 17, 2016): p22+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Bookseller Media Limited
http://www.thebookseller.com
Full Text:
Hygge is humble and slow. It is choosing rustic over new, simple over posh, and ambience over excitement" There are numerous books with a distinctly Nordic flavour this autumn, as publishers jump on the Scandi-wagon and try to emulate the success of The Bookseller's non-fiction Book of the Year, Norwegian Wood. And amid this log roll of titles, which encompasses lifestyle, cookery, craft and more, one word dominates: hygge. A Danish word of Norwegian origin; pronounced roughly "hoogah", and hard to translate directly, it is variously defined as: "the art of creating intimacy"; "cosiness of the soul"; "taking pleasure from the presence of soothing things"; "cosy togetherness"; and, perhaps most evocatively of all, "cocoa by candlelight". To name but a few titles we have How to Hygge: The Secrets of Nordic Living by Signe Johansen (Bluebird), Hygge: A Celebration of Simple Pleasures by Charlotte Abrahams (Trapeze), The Art of Hygge: How to Bring Danish Cosiness Into Your Life by Jonny Jackson & Elias Larson (Summersdale), and 26 Grains by Alex Hely-Hutchinson (Square Peg) which extols the joys of hygge bowl food, such as porridge.

Meik Wiking, author of The Little Book of Hygge (Penguin) arguably has the most interesting qualification to write a book on the concept, however. He is chief exectuive of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, a think tank he founded in 2013 after noticing the increasing global attention being paid to happiness. In 2011, the UN published a resolution which stated that "the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental human goal", and in 2012 it released its first World Happiness Report. Taking into account a number of factors including health, family and job security as well as social factors such as political freedom and government corruption, the report has been published every year since, and Denmark has topped the list four out of five times.

"It occurred to me that somebody in Denmark should be trying to gather some intelligence because we're doing so well in the happiness rankings," Wiking tells me when we meet at Penguin HQ in London. He is an engaging, merry presence in his trademark tailored jacket with leather patches on the elbows ("for the hygge and for the professor look"). "And then I thought: maybe I should do that. In a matter of two months, I had quit my job, and I established the Happiness Research Institute shortly after that." With the exception of his supportive father, Wiking's friends thought he was crazy. "They said: 'So you're going to quit your wellpaying steady job to study happiness?' But honestly I can say now that it is the best career decision I have ever made. I perhaps work more than I used to and I earn less but I'm having a lot more fun. And I've found something I want to do for the next 40 or 50 years".

Three years on, The Happiness Research Institute works for foundations, unions, patient groups and various ministries in Denmark. Wiking also travels widely, talking to governments and organisations all over the world. Recently he met the newly appointed female minister of state for happiness in the United Arab Emirates. "Currently ranked 28th, they have a mission of becoming one of the five happiest countries by 2021." South Korea--which has the second highest rate of suicide in the world--has been another country of focus. All the institute's work boils down to the attempt to answer two questions: Why are some people happier than others? And how do we measure happiness? Wiking encounters plenty of scepticism about this work. "A lot of journalists say to me: how can you possibly measure a subjective thing like happiness? And I say: if I were studying depression would you ask me the same question? I am yet to hear a convincing argument why happiness should be the one thing in the world we cannot study in a scientific manner. Why should we not try to understand the thing that perhaps matters the most?"

Initially, hygge--with its signature themes of good coffee, delicious cake, congenial company, red wine poured into hearty stews, and books read curled up by the fire while the rain hammers down outside--hardly sounds like a scientific concept. But Wiking believes it could be the missing link: the reason why Danes consistently top the world happiness rankings. While other countries have words with similar overtones--gemutlichkeit in Germany, koselig in Norway, hominess in Canada, gezellig in the Netherlands, for example--the concept of hygge is uniquely Danish, argues Wiking. "It's an integral part of our cultural DNA: we talk about it tremendously often. Since I began researching the book, I've noticed just how much hygge comes up in everyday conversation. It's like a mild form of Tourette's".

Wiking had initially been at a loss to explain why Denmark consistently outperformed even its high-performing Nordic neighbours in the happiness rankings before he considered hygge as the missing piece of the puzzle. "I talk a lot about the Nordic welfare model and how our policies to encourage a good work-life balance and our traditional focus on the welfare state teach us the value of security and equality and community. Yes, we do pay some of the highest taxes in the world, but it's interesting that there is so much public support for high taxation. We recognise the value in terms of happiness and security and quality of life that we get out of paying into the common pool. I think people in the Nordic countries now realise that an additional 1,000 kroner a month won't matter in terms of quality of life. In many countries, the perception is that increased wealth means increased wellbeing, and in a poor country this is of course true for a while. But once you reach a certain point, the relationship between the two starts to decouple. "

SEPARATING WEALTH AND WELLBEING

"I think it's very important to underline that Denmark is by no means a utopia. We have a lot of issues, we have a lot of challenges. But what we have got right is the extent to which we have managed to mentally decouple wealth and wellbeing. And we also have this word, hygge . . . our language reflects our world. We shape our words, and thereafter they shape us, to paraphrase Churchill. Just having that word changes our behaviour and gives us something we can strive to achieve."

Wiking's own happiness is enhanced he says, by "relationships and having a meaningful occupation. But also just by everyday activities. The more I go abroad, I more I appreciate being able to cycle to work in Copenhagen. It takes me five or six minutes, or the time it takes to listen to "Back in Black" by AC/DC on my headphones. And, well, I know it's not glamorous but I like riding my bike down to the nearest park and lying under a tree and reading a book."

Wiking was contacted by Penguin and invited to write the book (in his almost flawless English without the need for a translator) at the beginning of this year. The Little Book of Hygge is as cosy as its competitors, with chapters on how to dress hygge, how to create a hygge Christmas; and recipes for such classic hygge dishes as "Braised Pork Cheeks in Dark Beer" and a lethal sounding mulled wine. Its slow living tenets are hardly earth-shattering. But after an hour talking to Wiking, I begin to realise that so many of our early 21st century publishing trends--baking books, colouring books, the homecraft boom, the Scandi-wagon--add up to a yearning for more cosiness; for an elusive quality which modern life often feels deficient in. For hygge perhaps?

METADATA

Publication 01.09.16 Formats HB/EB ISBN 9780241283912/ 9780241283936 rights sold in the US, Germany, Spain, Japan, Poland, Russia and Korea Editor emily Robertson, Penguin Life Agent N/A

QUICK CV

1978 born in Haderslev, Denmark

2002-2007 BA Social Sciences, Roskilde University, Denmark

2007-2013 Director of Scandinavian think-tank Monday Morning

2013 Founds The Happiness Research institute, Copenhagen

2016 Named by Canadian organisation the Crazy Ones as one of the "100 business Mavericks Who are Changing the World"

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Sanderson, Caroline. "Meik Wiking: Caroline Sanderson gets cosy with the chief executive of the Happiness Research Institute to talk about the Danish concept of hygge." The Bookseller, 17 June 2016, p. 22+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A455613313/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=1eaa1bab. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A455613313

QUOTED: "As life philosophies go, this one sounds pretty sweet."

Keep on the sunny side of life
Julie Hale
BookPage. (Jan. 2017): p15.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 BookPage
http://bookpage.com/
Full Text:
Most of us would agree that happiness is a state of mind, one that requires more than a little maintenance. Perfect for giving your attitude a tuneup, the books below are all about achieving--and sustaining--a sunny mindset. Get ready to focus, reflect and feel happy, starting today.

In a 2016 United Nations report, Denmark was named the happiest place in the world, a title the country has earned in previous years. The sod, it seems, really is greener in Scandinavia. What's the key to Danish contentment? Copenhagener Meik Wiking, a researcher for the World Database of Happiness, believes it's hygge (pronounced hue-gah), the feeling of snug domesticity, companionship and security that's central to the country's culture.

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For those of us who live in less idyllic locations--the U.S. ranked 13th on the list of happy nations--Wiking has written The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living (Morrow, $19.99, 240 pages, ISBN 9780062658807). In brief, breezy chapters, Wiking outlines ways we can weave hygge into the fabric of our daily lives, offering ideas on everything from decorating (candles are a hygge must-have) to dining (try the recipe for robust Skipper Stew). But hygge, Wiking points out, is much more than an aesthetic. It's a state of mind that fosters optimism and stresses pleasure over the pressure to be perfect. The hygge way means it's OK to disconnect from work and assemble with friends, to indulge in--yes--a Danish or two (statistics show that Denmark outeats the rest of Europe when it comes to sugary treats). As life philosophies go, this one sounds pretty sweet.

Author Malene Rydahl presents a different take on what makes Denmark tick in Happy as a Dane: 10 Secrets of the Happiest People in the World (Norton, $14.95, 144 pages, ISBN 9780393608922), arguing that her homeland is flourishing thanks to a solid social framework and a value structure that emphasizes personal contentment instead of status. Her 10-secrets list features qualities that define Danish society--traits such as trust, a supportive educational system, a sense of unlimited opportunity and an appreciation for simple pleasures.

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When applied to our personal lives, Rydahl says, these big-picture elements can generate the same sense of positivity that makes Denmark the happiest place on the map. Rydahl, who is Copenhagen's goodwill ambassador, suggests simple shifts in perspective. By focusing on community, calibrating the career-life equation and developing independence and self-worth, we can create a strong foundation for fulfillment. From start to finish, Rydahl lays out a persuasive case for making 2017 the year of living Danishly.

HOW-TOS FOR HAPPINESS

For more than a decade, sought-after speaker Halley Bock has worked with companies across the country as an advisor on workplace relationships. She's the founder of Life, Incorporated, an organization that promotes connection, compassion and good old-fashioned joy as prime factors in personal satisfaction. Bock shares her unique approach to self-growth in Life, Incorporated:

A Practical Guide to Wholehearted Living (Greenleaf, $22.95, 296 pages, ISBN 9781626343559). The key word here is practical, as Bock provides concrete techniques that can help readers find new ways to flourish.

Bock's position on self-fulfillment is holistic. She urges us to inventory our lives--to take stock of home environment, physical health, career and downtime and, through writing prompts that tap into personal inspiration, envision more rewarding versions of each. Building self-esteem, finding a sense of purpose and maintaining authentic connections with others are among her areas of emphasis. "The more we are able to live life on our own terms," Bock observes, "the more we are able to experience wholehearted success and fulfillment." If you're looking for a hands-on plan for cultivating happiness, Bock's book is for you.

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POSITIVE PRACTICES

So many of us, it seems, are creatures of habit, ruled by schedules and routines. In the midst of all the busyness, it's easy to stagnate--and stress (two verbs you should banish from your vocabulary in 2017!). Are we humans really capable of change? According to Zen master Joseph Emet, the answer to that question is a resounding yes, and in Finding the Blue Sky: A Mindful Approach to Choosing Happiness Here and Now (Tarcher Perigee, $16, 208 pages, ISBN 9780143109631), he shows readers how. Through a series of daily practices that includes planned meditation, Emet offers a blueprint for forming a more mindful mode of living and stopping the cycles of negative thinking that so often undermine happiness.

Drawing on his Buddhist background, Emet provides themes for meditation and soul-searching questions, all aimed at helping the reader develop a more affirmative outlook. He also delves into issues that can complicate daily life, including mood management and relationships. Establishing positive habits and patterns of thinking is central to contentment, Emet notes, but practice makes perfect--we have to act with intention if we want the changes to be permanent. He makes it all seem achievable in this stirring, heartfelt book.

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PATH TO A HAPPIER YOU

Full of smart suggestions for finding fulfillment, Rachel Kelly's Walking on Sunshine: 52 Small Steps to Happiness (Atria, $18, 144 pages, ISBN 9781501146442) is sure to put a spring in your stride. In this mood-brightening guide, Kelly, a bestselling British author and mental health advocate who has struggled with depression, reveals the techniques she relies upon for leading a bountiful life.

In journal entries attuned to the seasons, Kelly supplies 52 ideas--one for each week of the year--for creating a more satisfying lifestyle. Try building into your schedule "pockets of peace"--times to power down, pause and reflect--in order to become more mindful of the present moment. Start practicing gratitude by pinpointing positive incidents and recording them in a notebook. Tiny tweaks like these, Kelly says, can make a big difference in our attitudes and interactions.

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Hale, Julie. "Keep on the sunny side of life." BookPage, Jan. 2017, p. 15. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A475225425/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=74dd9a0f. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A475225425

QUOTED: "Denmark's national emphasis on hygge may explain why it's the world's happiest country, outranking other Scandinavian nations with the same societal well-being boosters, like universal health care and paid parental leave."

Spring for Hygge
Women's Health. 14.3 (Apr. 2017): p078.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Rodale, Inc.
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/
Full Text:
Just warming up to the Danish coziness trend? No need to pack it up with your wool sweaters and firewood. You can get the happy-fying, health-ifying perks all year long.By Laura TedescoThis winter, hygge was on everyone's lips--and Pinterest boards--even if they weren't pronouncing it properly. (It's HOO-guh.) The Danish wellness concept has inspired dozens of books and dominated home decor and was short-listed as the Oxford English Dictionary's Word of the Year. It's often translated as "coziness," but that's like saying Charlize Theron is pretty; true, but it overlooks everything else she has going for her. Architectural researcher James Wilson's interpretation--"dwelling poetically"--may be more apt. Danish anthropologist Jeppe Trolle Linnet, Ph.D., calls it "a situation that is pleasant, relaxed, devoid of demands, where you can be yourself and focus on the here and now."Denmark's national emphasis on hygge may explain why it's the world's happiest country, outranking other Scandinavian nations with the same societal well-being boosters, like universal health care and paid parental leave, says Meik Wiking, author of The Little Book of Hygge and CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen. And happiness begets health. "The experience of hygge," says Wiking, "should feel like an embrace," producing a surge in oxytocin, the calming and connecting hormone, which also suppresses cortisol, the stress hormone.And though you've probably seen it typified by candles, chunky knit sweaters, and mulled wine, hygge isn't strictly a hunker-down-by-the-fire thing; it's a year-round way of living that can't be bought. "It's been kind of commodified," says Jonathan Bean, Ph.D., who teaches design at Bucknell University and has studied hygge. "But it's actually about making a choice to have a particular kind of experience, regardless of your material surroundings." Fresh flowers, homemade jam, backyard barbecues--they're all hygge, but only because they force you to stop, breathe in, and yes, indulge a little.Wanna stay hyggelig as the weather grows warmer? Of course you do--it's the adjective for hygge. (And BTW, it's pronounced HOO-guh-lee.)How the Danish Do ItThese four key elements pretty much sum up hygge. They may sound lofty, but living them is easy.#1 EQUALITYCrazy-high taxes aren't the only way the Danes ensure equality--they also insist on checking any pretension at the door. "It will ruin the hygge if you hog the attention, boast about achievements, or flaunt your wealth," Wiking says.PLAY FAIR. Break out the board games. When you're playing Monopoly, you're not the girlfriend, the boss, or the best friend--you're just a metal dog competing with a metal thimble. Don't fret if it takes you four hours to finish the game; going with the flow is also central to hygge.SHARE YOUR READS. A "leave a book, take a book" shelf in a common work area can be a less-gossipy version of the watercooler. "It creates a sense of community," says Wiking, "and gives you something to talk about and meet people over" that's independent of where you are on the office- or social-hierarchy totem pole.#2 GRATITUDE"Hygge is about appreciating life's simple pleasures," Wiking explains. "That's the one thing we all have in abundance." You just need to look for them.CAPTURE MOMENTS. Snap photos of happiness-provokers--a blooming flower, a crystal-blue sky--and instead of posting on social media (which can lead you to stress over how many "likes" you get), file them away in an album on your phone, says Wiking. Then scroll through when you want to remember all the everyday things you're thankful for.PEN A PAL. Pick an important person in your life and write a note thanking her for-everything that makes her awesome. A quickie e-mail doesn't count: "On a computer, you can hit the delete button," says Wiking. With a handwritten letter, you're forced to fully gather your thoughts before putting them to paper, helping you reflect on how you feel and allowing the gratitude to really soak in. Mailing it spreads the hygge to the recipient.#3 PLEASUREThe Danish version of indulgence doesn't mean hoovering an entire sleeve of Thin Mints (sorry!). It's about slowing down and relishing the good life.MAKE BREAKFAST SPECIAL. Instead of grabbing a protein bar while running out the door, play chef before bed. Mix up some overnight oats, or slice the fruit you wouldn't bother to cut up in the a.m. and artfully arrange it over yogurt. Then "when you wake up groggy, there's a nice experience waiting for you," says Bean. And don't leave the dishes in the sink: Danes view clutter as a hindrance to hygge because it represents the outside world getting in the way of enjoying life at home. Besides, if your kitchen is already clean, you can spend more time savoring your breakfast--a much more hyggelig way to start your day than racing around cleaning up a mess.BUY A BOUQUET. "Hygge gives you license to buy things you might not otherwise," says Bean, since indulgence for the sake of personal pleasure, rather than impressing others, is core to this lifestyle. "Focus on purchasing things that are really fulfilling to you," he suggests. That might mean shelling out for long-stem roses that make you swoon instead of the so-so carnations.#4 TOGETHERNESSWhile hygge can be achieved alone by, say, swinging on a hammock or reading a good book, the bliss-making effects are amplified when you experience it with others, says Linnet. Mountains of research back him up: Strong social ties amp happiness and can even reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and enhance immunity.BOND CLOSE TO HOME. Jetting off to an exotic locale with your gal pals may sound hygge, until you consider the tension-inducing logistics and planning involved, says Linnet. Instead, picnic in a local park or hit up a quaint brunch spot. Even better, create a ritual with your girlfriends--a standing date for Saturday-morning manis and mimosas, perhaps? "Hygge often has an element of familiarity and repetition to it," since traditions are an easy way to bring people together, says Linnet.HOST A SWAP PARTY. That tricked-out juicer gathering dust in your closet--why not give it to a friend on a health kick? Better yet, trade it for a pair of fancy heels your pal bought on a whim but hardly ever wears. You're spending time together and both getting some new gear at the same time. Win-win.30 Days of HyggeWriter Jane Larkworthy embraced the comfy life--and soaked up its benefits.I first heard about hygge last fall during a trip to Denmark when a fellow traveler placed a name to the country's cozy mood. I wasn't yet aware of hygge's growing Stateside buzz, but when I returned home, the confluence of a shaky political climate and my personal proclivity to coziness inspired me to post hyggelig things for a month on my Instagram (@janelarkworthy). I wanted to spread good vibes and reconnect with the way I was raised. Although we didn't call it "hygge," my father had the fireplace going every day, and Mom shunned overhead lighting in favor of floor and table lamps.My hygge is wearing fleece pants and clogs (I own eight pairs) while driving up to my family's country home at night, so during the first week, I posted photos of snow boots, candles, and homemade biscuits. But I also found myself 'gramming a throw blanket (a hygge poster child) even though I'm personally not into them. That felt a bit forced at first, but then I realized that the act of framing that blanket against a late-after-noon-sun-lit window warmed my heart. It also helped me understand that hygge is in the eye of the behygger. I think snow angels are hygge, but snow haters will disagree.At the end of the month, I felt more connected to my childhood, and comments from my followers confirmed that I had tapped into a common need for comfort. So find your hygge. And should it involve a throw blanket, I won't judge.CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: STEPHANIE RAUSSER/TRUNK ARCHIVELUMINA/STOCKSYSARAH MAINGOT/TRUNK ARCHIVEPEDEN & MUNK/TRUNK ARCHIVEPAUL COSTELLO/AUGUST IMAGESSTEPHANIE RAUSSER/TRUNK ARCHIVEJORDAN LUTES/AUGUST IMAGES((caption)):A WINDOW NOOK FOR READING? SO HYGGE.THAYER ALLYSON GOWDY/AUGUST IMAGES((caption)):The writer in her country home((caption)):Two of jane's most-liked hygge postsCOURTESY OF INSTAGRAM @JANELARKWORTHY (3)

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Spring for Hygge." Women's Health, Apr. 2017, p. 078. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A497335861/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=8c1e2e63. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A497335861

QUOTED: "Right now there's a growing global interest in happiness research, as more and more people are feeling disillusioned with the way we measure progress, and organisations are incorporating well-being measures into their practices."
"There's a lot of great science going on in universities that isn't reaching the policy-makers we are trying to influence. We started with softer issues like interior design and candles but are very quickly moving towards policies for work-life balance and equality. I feel a great sense of pride and it's very un-Danish to say so a great sense of accomplishment."

Make it happy; @thestandardarts In association with Meik Wiking's book started a cosiness trend that brought candles, cinnamon buns and sheepskins into our homes. It's time to forget hygge, it's all about lykke now, he tells Katie Law
The London Evening Standard (London, England). (Sept. 5, 2017): News: p26.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Evening Standard Limited
http://www.standard.co.uk/
Full Text:
THE Little Book of Hygge proved to be last year's publishing sensation. The pertly packaged happiness lifestyle guide by a dishy Dane called Meik Wiking (pronounced Mike Viking) exhorted the rest of us to light more candles, eat cinnamon buns and enjoy spontaneous suppers with friends and family preferably while sitting on sheepskins. The book sold more than a million copies, sparked a spike in sales of candles and cinnamon and has ridden the crest of a wave of "hygge" titles that have brought the term hygge (which loosely translates as "cosy") into our consciousness and homes for ever.

As CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, Wiking, 39, studies relative levels of happiness throughout the world. It's not as flaky as it sounds and he has now written a more serious research-based sequel, The Little Book of Lykke ("lykke" meaning happiness in Danish, and pronounced "lookah"), in the same cute format. What do happy people have in common, he asks, and what can we learn from the answers? We meet at Wiking's happiness HQ in Copenhagen an elegant, late 19th-century building where candles burn in hurricane lamps on the steps outside. The office, Wiking explains in a hushed voice, is a shared office hub with a cleandesk policy. Workers are toiling on laptops in silence, the only noise coming from someone making coffee in the corner. Formal meetings and talking on the phone are discouraged, and Wiking suggests we take a stroll around the nearby lakes while we talk.

The former climate-change policymaker set up the Happiness Research Institute five years ago. "It started out as me, a good idea and a bad laptop," he says. His work mentor had died suddenly at the age of 49, as had his mother, at the same age, of cancer. Both bereavements left him with the realisation "that life is finite and we should get the most out of it. I was 34 and thought maybe I only have 15 years left, so I should start this crazy thing. Then I just ran with it."

Before the hygge book, Wiking had written academic books in Danish about happiness.

They sold only a few hundred copies, so the soaraway success of this has felt "like daydreaming on steroids". Apart from financial security, it has also given Wiking credibility with organisations from all over the world. "Right now there's a growing global interest in happiness research, as more and more people are feeling disillusioned with the way we measure progress, and organisations are incorporating well-being measures into their practices," he says.

"There's a lot of great science going on in universities that isn't reaching the policy-makers we are trying to influence. We started with softer issues like interior design and candles but are very quickly moving towards policies for work-life balance and equality. I feel a great sense of pride and it's very un-Danish to say so a great sense of accomplishment."

Last April Harvard set up its own health and happiness centre and the United Arab Emirates has announced that it aims to be ranked within the top five happiest countries by 2021. (It's currently ranked 21st.) It's a tough race, says Wiking, with the Nordic countries and Switzerland hogging the top slots, thanks in part to excellent welfare and education systems and, paradoxically, relatively high taxation.

To measure happiness, there are three determining factors, he says. "First: biology, genetics and age. Then city designs and policies, which can change, but only at a very, can you say, glacial speed in English?" E laughs. "I mean very slow.

"And then there is our behaviour and choices, and the link between how we design policies and cities, and the effect that has on us. This is where we should focus because we can't change our genetics or age." Examples include creating infrastructures for safer cycling, allowing flexible working hours and instigating phone-free periods in the office.

There is also the question of our enslavement to status and need to rank ourselves beside others. Perceived inequality, not just of wealth but of wellbeing, can be a huge driver of unhappiness. South Korea, says Wiking, ranks lowest and is where he is most in demand as a speaker. This is because South Koreans have become very wealthy very quickly and don't know how to cope, together with having among the longest commuting times in the world.

Happy feat: The Little Wiking also believes there's a critical imbalance between people's perception of news and the reality. "A lot of us overestimate the risks. There's actually a lot of good news going on. The world is a safer place than it was, people are more prosperous than they were, but inequality is rising. That's what matters. It breeds resentment and anger and hatred."

Wiking's "Facebook experiment", in which a control group stopped using Facebook for a week, showed pretty conclusively that reducing our exposure to social media improves self-image, since most participants reported feeling better. "We're biologically wired to care about social hierarchy, and social media constantly exposes us to the distorted realities of others. When everyone else suddenly looks like they're doing fabulously because of this wedding or that perfect holiday, or we get a tangible number of likes and followers which young people base their self-worth on it changes how we feel about ourselves. In the past if there was a party on a Friday night you weren't invited to, you'd never have known. Now you'll see pictures posted all over Instagram."

He's the first to admit he is as potentially addicted to his smartphone as the next person but combats the urge by keeping it on silent, switching off notifications and limiting social media use to an hour a day. And he's a guinea pig for his own research. "I've tried to organise my social world a little more, he says. He belongs to both a book club and a food club, where a group of friends take it in turns to host themed cooking evenings, and everyone brings an ingredient. "Especially for us men, it's nice to have something to do while we talk." He and his long-term girlfriend like exploring Copenhagen by bike because "it's good exercise and it's free". The next area of his research will focus on how spending impacts on wellbeing.

Meik Wiking's of Lykke Although an enthusiastic workaholic himself, the average 37-hour working week is another vital component of the Danish happiness model, says Wiking. He knows several Londoners who have moved to Copenhagen for a better worklife balance and a shorter commute. And then, of course, the Danes are also more trusting. People leave bikes unlocked, and babies parked in prams on the pavement while enjoying a pastry and a cup of coffee in a cafe with friends. How very hygge or should that be lykke? |The Little Book of Lykke (Penguin, PS9.99) is published on September 7

CAPTION(S):

Happy feat: Meik Wiking's The Little Book of Lykke

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Make it happy; @thestandardarts In association with Meik Wiking's book started a cosiness trend that brought candles, cinnamon buns and sheepskins into our homes. It's time to forget hygge, it's all about lykke now, he tells Katie Law." London Evening Standard [London, England], 5 Sept. 2017, p. 26. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A503280366/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=2c596c8b. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A503280366

From Scandinavia, Lessons in Living
Penelope Green
The New York Times. (Dec. 17, 2017): Lifestyle: p10(L).
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com
Full Text:
Lykke, pronounced loo-kah, like the character in the Suzanne Vega song, is the Danish word for happiness, perhaps that country's most valuable commodity. (Denmark often sits at the top of lists of the world's happiest countries.) Meik Wiking, who is the C.E.O. of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, a think tank devoted to its pursuit, has written a book about it, ''The Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World's Happiest People,'' out at the end of the month.

Lykke is not to be confused with hygge, pronounced hoo-gah, which means cozy, and was the subject of Mr. Wiking's previous book, ''The Little Book of Hygge,'' out last January, though they are related because coziness, a Danish obsession, is a sine qua non of happiness (if you happen to be Danish, that is).

Hygge, as the world learned last year, accrues to those who after cold-weather sports put on hand-knit sweaters and gather with friends to play board games and imbibe baked goods and copious amounts of very strong coffee in candlelit spaces -- preferably in a Scandinavian country like Denmark, which has generous social supports and gender parity.

Happiness, of course, is more ephemeral, less quantifiable, than coziness, though Mr. Wiking marshals some engaging behavioral-science data. Anticipation makes you happy: three days, it turns out, is the optimal amount of time for looking forward to stuff, according to one study. Coach passengers are more prone to rage if they have to walk through first class, according to a study that points out how the perception of inequality makes people unhappy. Volunteers are happier than nonvolunteers, and the self-employed are happier than those with bosses. Parents of young children are less happy than everyone else, but the level of their unhappiness varies depending on the social supports of whatever country they're in. In the United States, they are 12 percent less happy. In Denmark, which mandates a year of parental leave, two months leave to take care of a sick child and universal day care, the gap is just 3 percent.

What makes Mr. Wiking happy, he writes, is leftover pizza.

So why don't Danes smile more? Noting the ''zombie death stare'' of his countrymen, Mr. Wiking wonders drolly if Denmark is truly a '''Resting Bitch Face' Nation,'' as he puts it. To find out, he has begun tracking the incidences of people smiling at home and abroad by sitting in cafes and watching passers-by. He and his colleagues have collected ''30,000 data points'' of smile frequencies in 20 countries around the world, which I think means they've clocked the smiling or not smiling faces of 30,000 people.

In fact, as he learns, Danes do smile occasionally, nearly 13 percent of the time, compared to New Yorkers, who smile less than 2 percent of the time. Everyone everywhere smiles less when they are alone, which may account for my city's low scores.

Mr. Wiking's last book was an international best-seller, the cream of a huge crop of books about hygge published in the past few years. (As the Financial Times reported, the global pursuit of the hygge fad and its devotion to spiced treats caused the price of cinnamon to rise 20 percent in 2016.)

The success of so many hyggelig titles would appear to have made Denmark's neighbors -- particularly Sweden -- jealous.

''Lagom: The Swedish Art of Living a Balanced, Happy Life,'' by Niki Brantmark, an English design blogger married to a Swede, introduces the Swedish ideal of moderation. Lagom -- pronounced lar-gum -- means ''not too much, not too little.'' In times of yore, moderation (and its drab companions, low expectations and societal conformity) may not have inspired a lifestyle book, but today, particularly for overwrought American readers, moderation feels positively Venusian, though it has its naysayers. (Writing in the Guardian, Richard Orange, a British journalist who lives in Sweden, decried his adopted country's national manifesto, what he described as ''the suffocating doctrine of Lutheran self-denial,'' with a plea that trendspotters not adopt lagom as they did hygge. If the trappings of hygge are cinnamon buns and candles, those considered appropriately lagom, he says, are more likely to be takeout pizza and Netflix.)

In her book, Ms. Brantmark extols the behaviors of a modest Swedish life: sleeping naked, buying secondhand furniture, crafting, eating lots of herring. And practicing fika, otherwise known as a ''coffee break,'' though Ms. Brantmark calls it ''a sacred Swedish social ritual meaning 'taking a break for coffee and enjoying a small treat.''' She added, ''You can literally do it anywhere'' (including the coffeeshop FIKA, which has locations all over Manhattan).

Following the practice of her competitors in the Scandinavian-themed publishing sweepstakes, Ms. Brantmark makes liberal use of Nordic vernacular terms like fika, many of which are portmanteau words or accessorized with fetching umlauts, and which recall the made-up subtitles of the '60s cult film, ''De Duva,'' the gleeful parody of the oeuvre of Ingmar Bergman, adding some demented whimsy. (Across the North Sea, the Scottish tourist board is trying bravely to be a contender, tweeting out the benefits of its own peculiar-sounding word for hunkering down -- #cosagach, which is Gaelic for ''snug.'')

Beyond an obsession with coffee breaks, Swedes have other appealingly modest habits, like taking their bed linens with them when they are houseguests, so their hosts don't have to do extra laundry, and eschewing both marriage and cohabitation in their relationships. There are cute names for these scenarios: Sambo is what you call your partner when you live together but don't marry; sarbo is what you call your beloved when you live apart.

''Being together, but not too together,'' Ms. Brantmark explains.

Among other helpful instructions -- e.g. how to slice cheese, which, apparently Scandinavians like to eat with jam (they also put ketchup on spaghetti) -- found in ''North: How to Live Like a Scandinavian'' are lists of behaviors associated with the different Nordic countries. Its author is BrontAaAaAeA{ Aurell, a Danish entrepreneur and cook marri to a Swede with whom she runs ScandiKitchen, a cafe and shop in London.

Karl Ove Knausgaard fans will not be surprised when Ms. Aurell suggests that one aspect of Norwegian behavior means never looking anyone in the eye and taking lots of hikes. To be Swedish, line up properly, she writes, with two meters between yourself and the next person. Do not make conversation.

How to act like a Dane? Dress exclusively in black clothing and ''be hygge superior.''

Ms. Aurell introduces a phenomenon she calls janteloven -- or, the law of jante -- which has something to do with the town in a popular Scandinavian bildungsroman from the 1930s and seems to be a societal aversion to what the British call tall-poppy syndrome, in other words not putting on airs or thinking you're better than anyone else.

''The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Make Your Loved Ones' Lives Easier and Your Own Life More Pleasant,'' by Margareta Magnusson, a Swedish artist and widow ''between 80 and 100 years old,'' as she writes, is a primer on how to winnow your belongings before you die, so you don't burden your family. Naturally, there's a portmanteau word for this -- dostadning (''do'' for death and ''stadning'' for cleaning). But let us use initials instead. ''T.G.A.O.S.D.C.'' manages to merge two wildly successful publishing trends: the diktats of anticluttering gurus like Marie Kondo, the Japanese tidying expert, and the appetite for all things Scandinavian. Yet as useful as this book is -- don't leave your complete collection of sex toys for your children to find when you are dead, or as Ms. Magnusson puts it, ''save your favorite dildo but throw away the other 15'' -- its pleasures are more Proustian than practical. Ms. Magnusson is the anti-Kondo, who takes us on a charming and discursive tour of her own stuff.

That which ''sparks joy'' -- Ms. Kondo's criteria for what stays in your closet -- in Ms. Magnusson's heart means a tender and witty reverie generated by an object before she gives it the heave-ho. Investigating her late husband's snickarbod (Swedish for toolshed and sometimes called a mansdagis, or male kindergarten) she marvels at its harmonious arrangements -- chisel, level, rotary hammers, pliers and hacksaw frames, warrantees and instructions filed neatly in binders -- and notes the erotic qualities of its oils, pumps and rubber valves.

''A master of order, my husband was,'' she writes, and then plucks out a hammer, some pliers, a yardstick and some screwdrivers, giving away the rest of his snickarbod to her children and their friends.

She writes of the inability of men of her generation to cope with housekeeping after the death of a spouse, and notes how death cleaning has traditionally been women's work.

''Women of my generation were brought up not to be in the way,'' she writes, ''to not trouble their surroundings with their presence. This is not the case with men, who take the space they are given for granted. My daughter sometimes says that I am so worried about being a nuisance that my worry itself becomes troublesome. Men don't think like I do, but they should. They too can be in the way.''

Those in Nordic countries may not be so unlike the rest of us, after all.

CAPTION(S):

PHOTOS: A host of new Scandinavian lifestyle books are hitting bookstores this season.

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Green, Penelope. "From Scandinavia, Lessons in Living." New York Times, 17 Dec. 2017, p. 10(L). General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A519124987/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=bf725165. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A519124987

QUOTED: "Hygge's been called many things. It's been called the art of creating a nice atmosphere. It's been called the pursuit of everyday happiness. But it's basically building in elements of togetherness, of savoring simple pleasures, of relaxation, of comfort on an everyday basis."

It's Not Just A Danish Word That Made Dictionary's Shortlist; It's A Lifestyle
Weekend Edition Sunday. 2016.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 National Public Radio, Inc. (NPR). All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions page at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
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Full Text:
To listen to this broadcast, click here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=505159329

HOST: AILSA CHANG

AILSA CHANG: There's a word you might be hearing a lot more in the U.S. very soon. It made the Oxford English Dictionary's shortlist for Word of the Year in 2016. It's a Danish word spelled H-Y-G-G-E. So how do you say it? Hygge. Is it hygge? Meik Wiking has my pronunciation.

MEIK WIKING: (Laughter) I think you passed the Danish test. It's pronounced hygge. So you're close enough.

CHANG: Hygge. I have to say it, like, pretty fast like that. Hygge. Meik Wiking is the author of "The Little Book Of Hygge," and he is CEO of The Happiness Research Institute in Denmark. Welcome to the program, Meik.

WIKING: Thank you for having me.

CHANG: From what I understand, hygge is actually a lifestyle concept, one that's been around for a very long time in Denmark. What does it mean to live a hygge life?

WIKING: Hygge's been called many things. It's been called the art of creating a nice atmosphere. It's been called the pursuit of everyday happiness. But it's basically building in elements of togetherness, of savoring simple pleasures, of relaxation, of comfort on an everyday basis.

CHANG: What exactly qualifies as hygge living? Like, candles or reading in front of the fire, getting together with friends? Give me some examples.

WIKING: All of the above. I think one of the most hyggelig times...

CHANG: (Laughter).

WIKING: ...I had was a few years ago when I was in Sweden with some friends. And we had been out hiking in the afternoon. And we came back in the cabin, and we got the fireplace and we had a stew boiling on the stove, and we were all just sitting back, relaxing. And it was silent, but then one of the guys said, could this be any more hyggelig - which is the adjective of the word - could this be any more hyggelig?

CHANG: (Laughter).

WIKING: And then one of the girls said, yes, if there was a storm outside. And yeah, we all nodded yes, that's right.

CHANG: Could you be hyggelig by yourself? Like, could it be as simple as lighting a candle and sitting with it?

WIKING: (Laughter) It was actually one of the most controversial questions we had within the research team when I spoke with my researchers about it. And there was one guy who insisted that you couldn't hygge by yourself, but the majority of us thinks that we can. So it was the most controversial question. But yes, you're right. I mean, lighting candles, enjoying a cup of tea, reading a book by the window can be quite hyggelig.

CHANG: What counts as not hygge? Give me an example of something that is so not hyggelig.

WIKING: You know, something that is too pretentious or something that's too expensive is not hyggelig either.

CHANG: Oh, that's interesting. Why is that?

WIKING: It's because it's something that - where everybody's equal and everybody can be part of it. You know, oysters and caviar and champagne, you know, is fun, but it's not considered hyggelig. You can use hygge as a get-out-of-jail card. If you walk into a restaurant where I think, OK, this is too expensive for my budget, I would say, shouldn't we find a place that's more hyggelig? Yeah, let's find a place that's more hyggelig. So if it is accessible. And it's not fancy food. It's everyday comfort food for everyday people.

CHANG: The irony in that is hygge is being marketed around the world, right?

WIKING: Yeah.

CHANG: One of my producers mentioned to me that she was in the U.K. last month. She noticed bookstores had a dedicated section for books on hygge. And we're seeing businesses like Ikea and Bloomingdale's promoting the hygge lifestyle. Is there a little bit of tension there between the hygge concept and marketing it so aggressively?

WIKING: (Laughter) Yes, there are manifestations of hygge in terms of furniture and lamps and so on, but I think that's not what hygge's about. It's about an atmosphere, first and foremost.

CHANG: Meik Wiking is the author of "The Little Book Of Hygge," which comes out next month. Happy hyggelig holidays to you, Meik. Thank you so much.

WIKING: (Laughter) Likewise.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GIVE ME THE SIMPLE LIFE")

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Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"It's Not Just A Danish Word That Made Dictionary's Shortlist; It's A Lifestyle." Weekend Edition Sunday, 11 Dec. 2016. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A473673024/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=23432656. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A473673024

Essien, Enobong. "The Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World's Happiest People." Booklist, 1 Dec. 2017, p. 5. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A519036096/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=0f15cd63. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018. "The Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World's Happiest People." Publishers Weekly, 20 Nov. 2017, p. 84. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A517262129/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=4c08c5de. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018. Sanderson, Caroline. "Meik Wiking: Caroline Sanderson gets cosy with the chief executive of the Happiness Research Institute to talk about the Danish concept of hygge." The Bookseller, 17 June 2016, p. 22+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A455613313/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=1eaa1bab. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018. Hale, Julie. "Keep on the sunny side of life." BookPage, Jan. 2017, p. 15. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A475225425/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=74dd9a0f. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018. "Spring for Hygge." Women's Health, Apr. 2017, p. 078. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A497335861/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=8c1e2e63. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018. "Make it happy; @thestandardarts In association with Meik Wiking's book started a cosiness trend that brought candles, cinnamon buns and sheepskins into our homes. It's time to forget hygge, it's all about lykke now, he tells Katie Law." London Evening Standard [London, England], 5 Sept. 2017, p. 26. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A503280366/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=2c596c8b. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018. Green, Penelope. "From Scandinavia, Lessons in Living." New York Times, 17 Dec. 2017, p. 10(L). General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A519124987/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=bf725165. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018. "It's Not Just A Danish Word That Made Dictionary's Shortlist; It's A Lifestyle." Weekend Edition Sunday, 11 Dec. 2016. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A473673024/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=23432656. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.

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