If you aren’t yet familiar with the term hygge, then listen up because it can make a difference in your recovery journey or improve your mental health. Hygge is a Danish word that doesn’t have an exact English translation but is meant to evoke sentiments of coziness, well-being, and contentment with life. Understanding how you can bring hygge into your life and home can help just about anyone bring more feelings of comfort and well-being into their life. It can do even more for someone in recovery by making their home environment more conducive to healing and similarly, for those who struggle with poor mental health, it is an effective way to boost mood and overall happiness.
Bringing the Spirit of Hygge Into Your Life
With Denmark consecutively ranked among the happiest countries every year, borrowing from their way of life will undoubtedly help to bring more joy into yours. Due to the long and cold winters experienced in the Nordic countries, the coziness of hygge was born. Hygge is a type of lifestyle to lead. One of the foundational aspects of hygge is togetherness. Regularly spending quality time with your favorite people like friends, family, or like-minded individuals and having an enjoyable conversation is an important way to experience true togetherness in your life. Another pillar of hygge living is being present and savoring your experiences. That means enjoying the simple pleasures like a good book or coffee, cutting multitasking, and lowering your external stressors, so you can enjoy the moment. What you wear also affects how comfortable you feel, so big, cozy sweaters, knits, or layered clothes give you a hygge feel.
Hygge at Home
Capturing hygge in a living space is about bringing feelings of relaxation, calm, and contentment into the space. Lighting is an important contributor to creating a cozy atmosphere, so use plenty of candles, lamps, twinkling lights, dimmed lighting, or a kindling fire to create warm, comforting lighting. You also want to avoid making your living space overwhelming but promote feelings of harmony and peace, so stick to neutral tones and not much clutter. In the kitchen, enjoy home-cooked meals made with healthy, whole-foods ingredients, and bonus points if you have meals in bowls (think soups and porridges.)
Living a lifestyle true to hygge helps to promote feelings of well-being and happiness. Bringing in aspects of a hygge way of life is a form of self-care. Having good self-care habits and a pleasant living atmosphere, all of which hygge promotes, will help those suffering from poor mental health and in recovery to promote positive self-regard and a healing environment conducive to recovery. If you or a loved one is struggling with their mental health or staying sober, contact us at Avalon Malibu. At Avalon, we have a team of health care professionals ready to help you. If you are ready to learn the tools you need to live a life of well-being and happiness, give us a call today at (844) 857-5992.
