Think of something that reminds you of a bone-chilling cold sensation. Perhaps it's the dark blue numb on your feet. The small pickax-wielding legions of Jack Frosts hacking away at your mental resistance, as the last attempts at wiggling your toes to stir up circulation remain futile!
With that in mind, think of a time when you were snug, cozy, and warm. My personal favorite is a time when I was in Innsbruck, Austria. Surrounded by my family as we sat in the cabin, snowfall hammering the windowpane outside, cuddled up with a great novel - "If on a winter's night a traveler" by Italo Calvino - sipping mulled wine by the fireside. My quintessential "cozy."
Now, my question for you is this: in reflecting on the times where you remember feeling the most snug, cozy, and warm, is it more profound because of the cold that surrounded your warm bubble? Perhaps, your memory was of sharing a warm moment with your spouse, family member, dog or favorite teddy bear. Was there something frigid that you were dealing with?
Most likely, the answer is yes. Naturally, we hold onto comfort when it's freezing outside. What we can take away from this, is that some of the best moments are made during the times when there is a blizzard of chaos surrounding us. Remembering these cozy, warm and touching moments in our lives could be a key in dealing with our most tumultuous times, without erasing the importance of the difficulties that magnify our positive memories.
The Danes already do this magnificently. In Denmark, where physical warmth is an ephemeral and fleeting caller, one of the ways the Danes keep themselves the happiest country in the world is by using hygge. By reminiscing about a favorite cozy, warm, and loving scene, hygge helps prevent the frigid, gloomy weather from getting the Danish down. Rather than mope, change their environment, leave, or give up, they persevere.
Whether or not you live on the beaches of California, the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, or the intertwining cobblestone roads of Boston, we all have things that ice our hearts and get us down. Warming ourselves up through positive memories could be the difference between staying in bed all day or having the willpower to get out, press on, and make the best of our chilly situations.
With that in mind, think of a time when you were snug, cozy, and warm. My personal favorite is a time when I was in Innsbruck, Austria. Surrounded by my family as we sat in the cabin, snowfall hammering the windowpane outside, cuddled up with a great novel - "If on a winter's night a traveler" by Italo Calvino - sipping mulled wine by the fireside. My quintessential "cozy."
Now, my question for you is this: in reflecting on the times where you remember feeling the most snug, cozy, and warm, is it more profound because of the cold that surrounded your warm bubble? Perhaps, your memory was of sharing a warm moment with your spouse, family member, dog or favorite teddy bear. Was there something frigid that you were dealing with?Most likely, the answer is yes. Naturally, we hold onto comfort when it's freezing outside. What we can take away from this, is that some of the best moments are made during the times when there is a blizzard of chaos surrounding us. Remembering these cozy, warm and touching moments in our lives could be a key in dealing with our most tumultuous times, without erasing the importance of the difficulties that magnify our positive memories.
The Danes already do this magnificently. In Denmark, where physical warmth is an ephemeral and fleeting caller, one of the ways the Danes keep themselves the happiest country in the world is by using hygge. By reminiscing about a favorite cozy, warm, and loving scene, hygge helps prevent the frigid, gloomy weather from getting the Danish down. Rather than mope, change their environment, leave, or give up, they persevere.
Whether or not you live on the beaches of California, the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, or the intertwining cobblestone roads of Boston, we all have things that ice our hearts and get us down. Warming ourselves up through positive memories could be the difference between staying in bed all day or having the willpower to get out, press on, and make the best of our chilly situations.
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