Sometimes I surprise myself with how little I know. For instance, just a few days ago I was
introduced to the Danish word “hygge,” pronounced hue-gah~ hoo-guh~ heurgha ~ hU-ge (hU is pronounced with the U sound,
closer to hyoo than hoo; ge is short, closer to g
than geh). I must have been
avoiding this word, fearful that I might choke just trying to say it. Indeed, fearful of a word that has no
translation in English at all…just lame approximations, just weak attempts.
Did you know? Hygge was
almost chosen to be the word of the year, but lost out to Brexit. Where have I been that this contender for
word of the year escaped me?
Be warned, there are
as many definitions as there are pronunciations. This is my favorite:
“Hygge (“heu-gah”). The art of
building sanctuary and community, of inviting closeness and paying
attention to what makes us feel open hearted and alive. To create
well-being, connection and warmth. A feeling of belonging to the moment and to
each other. Celebrating the everyday.
“Hygge happens when we commit to
the pleasure of the present moment in its simplicity. It’s there in the small
rituals and gestures we undertake to give everyday life value and meaning, that
comfort us, make us feel at home, rooted and generous.
“We all hygge – around a table
for a shared meal, beside a fire on a wet night, making coffee together at
work, in the bath with a single candle, wrapped in blankets at the end of a day
on the beach, sheltering from the rain at a bus stop, lying spoons, baking in a
warm kitchen, alone in bed with a hot water bottle and a good book.
“In our overstretched, complex,
modern lives, hygge is a resourceful, tangible way to find deeper connection to
our families, our communities, our children, our homes and our earth. It’s an
uncomplicated, practical method of weaving the stuff of spirit and heart into
daily life without sentimentality then taking time to celebrate it on a human
scale.
Hygge is a kind of enchantment –
a way of stirring the senses, the heart and the imagination, of acknowledging
the sacred in the secular – a way of giving something ordinary a special
context, spirit and warmth, taking time to make it extraordinary. About Hygge
The application of this phenomenon to
our lives at school is clear.
·
gathering around the
Keurig in the morning,
·
copying handouts for
a colleague,
·
rooting for students at
a game,
·
providing breakfast
for your advisees,
·
comforting a
disappointed senior,
·
sharing a good laugh,
·
reorganizing your
space to feel a little bit warmer and more welcoming to everyone,
·
shaking your
students’ hands as they enter or leave your room.
All these actions performed in the
spirit of community, in the spirit of being in the moment and belonging, in
some very real way, to our school and to each other… generate hygge right here
at GA.
I am a big fan of words. Words are wonderful,
and a precise word is a crown jewel. Still, I find the ambiguity, the inexactitude
of hyyge to offer a warm welcome into its mystery.
Skål!
Maggie
