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.
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.
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.
