I don’t know what’s gotten a hold of me this week, but apparently I’m on a roll with happiness theory and self-help. What can I say? My upcoming wedding has put me in a reflective mood.
Anyway, I ‘ve been following the New York Times’ Happy Days blog for a while, and I love it. The NYT started the blog, which explores “the search for contentment in its many forms — economic, emotional, physical, spiritual — and the stories of those striving to come to terms with the lives they lead” in response to the economic downturn, which has caused so many to reassess their values.
Today I woke up thinking about an article called Lowered Expectations from a few weeks ago, about the idea that Danes are happier because they tend to have more realistic standards (relative to Americans) for contentment. Here’s a bit from Eric Weiner’s piece:
About once a year, some new study confirms Denmark’s status as a happiness superpower. Danes receive this news warily, with newspaper headlines that invariably read: “We’re the happiest lige nu.” Lige nu is a Danish phrase that means literally “just now” but strongly connotes a sense of “for the time being but probably not for long.” Danes, in other words, harbor low expectations about everything, including their own happiness. Though not an especially religious people, Danes would make good Buddhists. They live their lives as the Buddha advised: in the present tense, not grasping at some future happiness jackpot.
I like the idea. Check it out.
4 Comments
Hey Tiffani,
As a British guy married to a Dane and living in Copenhagen, Denmark I’d say the article was partially correct.
However, if you also consider that hardly anyone is ever expected to work overtime, that it’s a given that family always comes first over work and that the general standard of living is so much higher than that of the UK, it’s hardly surprising that they’re happy.
Less stress, less work and not feeling guilty about not having spent enough quality with your loved ones is always going to be a good thing.
Love this site by the way.
Cheers
Jim
Paragraph 1: role should be spelled “roll”
Hi Tiffani,
I really love Americans so much, but when I lived in the US, I felt as if most people around me were a lot happier than me because they looked excited and energetic most of the time.
But, now I wonder maybe at least some of them were feeling the same way I did. This is an interesting article.
Jay
Jay and Jim: Ah! Awesome. Ideas from folks who live abroad. Thank you.
Drew: You saved my day and I owe you.