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This post has been kicking around in my head for a long time. It all started when I ran across the word hygge. Hygge is a Danish word to describe the content good feeling central to Danish life. I’ve been trying to build around this idea, construct my ideal day with the small, familiar, good things that give me contentment. And once constructed figure out how to live that day every day. For me, after a good night’s sleep (largely beyond my control on that of course) is a strong dark cup of coffee. I am a coffee purist. Coffee should taste like coffee and not an ice cream sundae nor a pumpkin pie. It should be hot and dark and nutty and oily and bitter and not have anything in it unless you want a little cream or if it is an espresso some sugar (sugar in the raw, trust me). It should be served in a cup that feels good in your hand and to your lips. I like my cup to have a thin rim. I like a moderate size with a handle that fits in my tiny little sausage-link-fingered hand. God only knows what I will do if my favorite cup ever breaks or goes missing. I’ve been searching for years for a replacement without success. Coffee should come in small, medium, and large. I have never ordered mine any other way; I just can’t do it and the world somehow has graciously obliged. I don’t even like caffeine so it is usually the strongest darkest oiliest decaf I can find.
Beyond coffee I like a full hot bath by candle light and relaxing music. Bathing is a glorious luxurious daily ritual. I look forward to it every day. In college the jacuzzi at my cooperative house was my bath-proxy as the bathtub was nasty. The shower was much safer there. Showers are utilitarian, baths are magical.
I like to meditate. It is my daily thirty-minute reconfirmation that I (still!) have an unruly monkey brain. After decades of meditation, I can honestly say both that it helps and that I am horrible at it. I doubt I have ever gone more than a few minutes (several seconds?) with an empty mind. But this means I am exactly the type of person that should meditate! Also, I learned from a wise man (who learned from yet another wise person) that meditation is not presence….it is returning to presence. Discovering that little distinction was tremendously freeing for me. Sadly, for now at least, my several-times-a-week yoga asana sessions are on hold. Covid gobbled them up and I have yet to figure out how to wrestle them back. Some things just feel so much harder to do in this new “post-Covid” endemic world.
I love to hug. I am really good at it. No, really. I have been told this by many people. I believe them, mostly because they are correct. I practice as often as I can. Thankfully, my wife obliges. I would estimate that we hug on average four times a day or so. Not the little pat on the back type, but the lose yourself and time type. I look forward to the next one later today and then the one or ones after that before bed. I might even get another one from my daughter today….she has been feeling generous this week!
I like walking and reading the news on my BBC RSS feed. I like going grocery shopping (not everyday though). I like a sit down dinner at the table with cloth napkins but without electronics. I like good food and drink. I like good music and lots of it. I especially like live music in small venues. I do not like television in general, but really enjoy a single show every day of whatever series my wife and I are watching. I like quiet. I like parties and being alone and spending time with one person at a time. I need all these things. I love naps. I think the world would be a saner happier place filled with hygge if we all could manage to take more naps. I’ve taken them in weird places. I will take one today as I took one yesterday. I like reducing clutter and bringing order to the objects around me. I love getting rid of things; unfortunately, I also like acquiring things!
I like thinking and learning and debating and listening. I like learning about myself. I like how I sleep after a long day of hard physical work. I love connecting to people. I love petting dogs and watching playoff sports (of virtually all varieties). I like traveling and hiking and cycling and getting good deals on things my family needs. I like washing my hands in warm water. I like helping and teaching.
Right now, I think I would like most napping!
