Chill Out And Hygge

This episode is all about letting go of perfection, worry, and overwhelm in and instead embracing contentment, resiliency, and coziness. If you aren't familiar with the concept of Hygge this is a nice introduction.

Transcript

Pearl S.

Buck says,

Many people lose the small joys in the hope for the big happiness.

I love that because it speaks to this idea of embracing the simple pleasures in life and that is what this week's podcast is all about.

I'm so happy you're here.

Thank you for inviting me into your home,

Into your life.

I love that you choose to spend this time with me.

And don't forget to listen to the end of the podcast because I have a very fun little offer for you,

A little surprise so you don't want to miss it.

Okay,

Let's dive into this week's podcast.

Welcome to the Tranquility Talk podcast,

An oasis of calm for your mind,

Body and spirit.

My name is Meg Daly and I'm the creator of Tranquility Talk podcast and blog and the sober tranquility 30 day reset.

I believe there's a magical art to feeling good.

So on this podcast,

I talk about everything related to cultivating more ease,

Joy,

Elegance in your everyday.

So whether you're on your morning walk,

Tidying up around the house or just chilling out,

I invite you to sit back,

Relax and enjoy.

Hi everyone.

Welcome to another week of the podcast and oh my gosh,

Happy 2000.

Happy happy happy 2021.

So yeah,

Resolutions,

Goals,

All that stuff.

Some people love them,

Some people hate them.

I think I think they're different.

And that's what I wanted to talk a little bit about today as well as I wanted to share with you my one resolution,

My one resolution.

So but before I dive in,

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and that you're off to a great start to the new year.

I know for me,

It was like very relaxing.

And then it's like,

Whoo,

Monday morning just like right away.

Let's go.

So I'm happy to be here with you right now.

I'm just hanging out here,

Snuggled up with my birdie girl and looking forward to being with you.

So thank you for inviting me into your world into your home or if you're out on a walk,

Or if you're maybe driving in the car.

I'm just so happy you're here.

All right,

So let's dive into the title of this week's podcast and that is called Chill Out and hygge.

I hope I'm pronouncing that right.

There's anyone from Denmark or Norway listening.

I think that's how I call it.

Hygge.

Now we're going to,

Hygge,

Hygge.

So we're going to talk about that today.

And you know,

It's been quite a year.

Needless to say,

It's been quite a year.

And I don't know about you,

But I have read numerous quotes on social media and what else,

On the news and just talking with people,

Just talking about this past year,

This past trip around the sun.

And so rather than going and looking in the rear view mirror,

Let's look ahead on this week's blog.

So let's go.

All right.

So I was just talking a few seconds ago about the difference between goals and resolutions.

I've never been really excited about resolutions and now I know why.

Okay,

Here we go.

Dictionary.

Com defines a resolution as quote,

The act of resolving or determining upon an action,

Course of action,

Method,

Procedure,

Et cetera.

Okay,

I feel like claustrophobic already.

Whereas a goal is defined as the result or achievement toward which effort is directed.

That feels a little lighter and lovelier.

So sometimes resolutions to me feel restrictive while goals feel more expansive.

So for example,

A resolution might be,

I resolve to go to the gym every day this year.

Whereas a goal might be,

My goal is to feel good in my body this year.

So you know,

I dove into,

And I'll put this in the show notes.

If you guys have not heard of Laura Casey,

She's amazing.

She is a fellow redhead.

So I gotta love her already,

Who has created,

Gosh,

For the past,

I think she's done this for like,

I don't know,

Eight,

Nine years.

Anyway,

She has,

It started out as the power sheets and they were,

You know,

Just different goals and you print out these power sheets and then it has evolved into this goal planner.

So it's not a day planner,

It's a goal planner and it's called cultivate,

Her company is called Cultivate What Matters.

So it's like the Cultivate What Matters goal planner power sheets all in one.

Excuse me.

And so I got it for the second year and I dove right into it and I was coming up with my goals and she just takes you through just such a beautiful process.

I mean,

Literally,

I think I spent a good three hours on the prep work and she asks just amazing questions like,

What are you going to say yes to this year?

What are you going to say no to?

You know,

What would make your heart sing?

You know,

What do you want to be known for?

Like really,

Really good questions.

And then at the end,

It's like right in front of you like,

Tada,

There are your goals for the year.

And so she just holds your hand walks you through it.

If you haven't heard of her,

Check her out.

I think it's cultivate what matters.

Com.

Again,

I'll put it in the show notes.

Anyway,

So I went through my goals.

And when I finished the goals,

I surprised myself and I got excited about coming up with the actual resolution this year.

And my resolution is are you ready for it?

The resolution is I resolve to chill out and hookah.

I just like saying that hookah.

So but but in all seriousness,

I resolve to chill out and to practice hookah,

Hookah,

Hookah,

I'll get it right one of these days.

So you know,

You probably get the first part but you might be asking what exactly is hookah and how do you pronounce?

How do you pronounce it?

I don't know.

It's I looked it up on Wikipedia or something and it said h o o dash ga so I take that as hookah I'm gonna go with it.

But let's start out with that chill out part.

So I,

I don't know about you,

But I'm kind of a recovering perfectionist.

So you know,

I feel that when the idea of perfection is released,

You allow this huge space to open up in your life for magic,

For magic to occur.

The unexpected and synchronicities rarely happen in a strictly held schedule,

Home and mind.

When humor,

Ease and forgiveness flood into the space where judgment,

Expectations and intense resolve once stood,

Life becomes dare I say fun.

Now as you notice,

I'm kind of riffing off of my blog here.

If you haven't checked that out,

You can check that out on my website.

But really,

I mean,

It's so true when when you infuse humor and ease and forgiveness for yourself and other people into that space where judgment expectations and that kind of like intensity of resolutions once stood,

Life does become more fun.

So one of my favorite questions to ask around goals is,

What would make your heart sing?

And I'm realizing that before you even answer that question,

Maybe it's even more important to ask yourself,

What do I need to let go of in order for my heart to have a voice?

So what do I need to release from my life in order for my heart to have this voice to get to the point where my heart starts singing with achieving that goal?

So for me,

What comes to mind is I'd love to have more time in my schedule simply to be.

And this past year has been crazy busy with building my live more drink less community with the 30 day reset around what I call sober tranquility.

And obviously,

You know,

My other work that I'm involved with,

Which I love as well.

And it's just been a busy year,

But like a really good busy.

And yet I know that there's an opportunity and space for me to just kind of step back a bit and reevaluate and streamline my schedule.

So like,

I'd love to have more time in my schedule just to be,

Which means I'm going to have to let go of this kind of adrenaline rush of rushing,

Stacking appointments and and stacking appointments,

Meaning you know,

Just not giving myself breathing room in between appointments just going from one thing to the next.

And just allowing you know,

Just resisting the urge to be pulled in too many directions.

So I don't know if you can relate,

But if you can,

I invite you to join me,

Join me and just chilling out.

I'm telling you,

I'm on day two or three of it,

And I'm kind of liking it.

I've been easing up on myself,

I'm allowing myself to make mistakes,

I'm allowing other people to make mistakes.

And you know,

Like,

It's not a big deal.

It's life.

Let's get over ourselves.

Let's have a little humor.

Chill out,

Man.

So anyway,

Let's dive into the second part of my resolution because the first part is I resolve to chill out and hygge.

So all right.

Have you heard of this term hygge?

It's spelled h y g g e,

You probably have.

For those of you who read my blog,

Some of you have reached out to me and you're like,

I totally know what that is.

And oh,

Yeah,

I've got the book that you reference and all of that.

So many of you are way ahead of me here.

So,

But it's the sense of coziness and simple pleasures that really infuse the Danish culture.

So things like cooking,

Crafts,

Needlepoint,

Knitting,

Fires,

Tranquility,

Candles,

Comfort food,

Cozy blankets,

Soft lighting,

Board games,

Nature,

Contentment,

Good friends,

Family,

And everything lovely falls under this umbrella of hygge.

So I've been running across articles about the term and it's funny,

I was recently,

I was at my parents over the holidays and I was reading an article.

I said,

Hey,

Let's look into this.

I've heard about this hygge term because I did an interview with Dr.

Kathy Suber.

She is a chiropractor out of Naperville,

Illinois,

And she runs an amazing community for,

It's like a mom community in the area.

I'm sorry,

I'm totally drawing a blank.

It's what's the name of the network.

Anyway,

She also has a fabulous podcast that you can check out.

It's called Sock It.

Anyway,

She introduced me to this term when I interviewed her and I think it's actually,

I think I have the interview on one of my podcasts on one of the episodes.

It's one of the earlier episodes,

So you can check that out.

So she introduced me to the term and I was at home over the holidays.

I said to my parents,

Oh,

I'm going to look up this term and learn more about it.

So as I'm reading it,

I stopped and I said,

Oh my gosh,

Oh my gosh,

You guys,

I think we have a little hygge person in our family.

And my mom's like,

Absolutely,

It's our Great Dane.

So our Great Dane is my niece Kelly,

Who looks like my dad's Danish side of the family.

My dad is half Danish and she fits,

Not only does she look Danish,

She fits this hygge Danish lifestyle to a T.

I mean,

From the Hallmark movies to Cozy Blankets to Coco,

And she lives with me part time while she's going to nursing school and I've never had more mugs in my cupboard.

Like she's got Christmas mugs.

I think she's got Halloween mugs.

She's got like mugs for every season.

She loves her cozy pajamas.

She loves Hallmark movies.

Like I said,

She loves everything cozy and I've never had more fires in my place than when she's lived with me.

And there's numerous cozy blankets all over the place.

And she is just a cozy,

Lovely person.

And she is definitely a hygge person.

My other niece,

Laura,

Definitely has the hygge in her as well.

Every time I see her lately,

She's doing her needlepoint.

I think it's so cool.

She's 21 years old and she's so into needlepoint.

She's needlepointing a leopard print,

You know,

Leopard print something.

But I'll be on the phone with her and she's like,

I'm needlepointing.

And I just,

I love it.

She inspired me to get back into needlepointing and knitting.

I'm still working on a blanket that I made for a friend of mine when she was pregnant.

Guess what?

Her daughter is now turning five.

Maybe I'll have it done for her by her high school graduation.

Anyway,

My nephew,

My nephew's obviously got this in him too.

Like,

Like I don't even think about buying him any clothes unless like they're cozy,

Especially sweatshirts on the inside.

So the more I learn about this cultural phenomenon in Denmark and Norway,

The more I realize like what a gift it is to have an actual word to describe something that is so beautiful and available to us really at no cost.

Like you don't have to go out and buy hygge.

It's probably it's it is it's just there.

It's like,

It's like love.

It's like joy,

You know,

It's just there for the taking.

And it's just really a really cool form of self care.

When you think about it.

It's this laid back,

Effortless kind of elegance that is simple yet incredibly impactful in a deep way.

I have really latched onto this.

So I've always been impressed by the French lifestyle and I love all of that.

And yet I never felt like I never felt like I could quite reach that level of standard that kind of cool,

Effortless chic.

So I feel like kind of the French lifestyle,

Which I still love.

I absolutely love everything about the French stuff.

It's kind of like this effort less like chicness where I feel like hygge is this effortless kind of quiet,

Subtle,

Calm elegance.

And I love that.

A good cup of tea,

A present and mindful conversation,

Puzzles.

Oh my gosh,

That's another thing that my niece loves.

I just forgot about that.

She loves puzzles.

And that's such a hygge thing.

You know,

Reading a good book,

A new banana bread recipe,

Which by the way,

I just concocted my own homemade banana bread recipe.

And maybe I'll call it the hygge banana bread recipe.

That's what I'm going to do.

And it will be in the show notes by the time this is released,

Which is like now you're listening to it now.

Just look down in the show notes for my recipe.

And you know,

It's something that I realized my parents really have always lived naturally in their own home and one that I'm really inspired to cultivate in my home even more this year.

So in fact,

When I was home over the holidays,

We got so excited about this hygge and my mom's like,

I do all this stuff.

I do the lighting and the candles.

I'm like,

I know you do.

And so we got inspired to do this impromptu hygge dinner by Candlelight.

I ran out to the woods at their home and cut fresh greens from the pine trees and it was so beautiful,

Like the moon was out and the snow was falling and oh my gosh,

It was so out of the Hallmark movie.

But it was really cool.

You know,

She had she made one of my favorite comfort food dishes and the dogs were there kind of snoring at our feet.

Actually one my dog was begging as usual.

But there really was something magical just about everything,

The yummy food,

The smell of the pine,

Like all the sensory.

It was like a sensory experience.

And I was I was just hooked.

You know,

I mean,

Think about it.

We have at our disposal,

The opportunity to practice this calmness,

This contentment every day with even how we sit down for our meals.

So if you're inspired to learn more about this concept of hygge,

And I hope I'm pronouncing this man's name properly.

It's Meek Wiking.

Think of Viking,

But Wiking.

Meek Wiking,

He's the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute.

Who knew?

I want to go work for them.

The Happiness Research Institute is in Copenhagen and he wrote a book.

He's the CEO CEO of the Happiness Research Institute and he wrote a book titled The Little Book of hygge.

And immediately I pass this on to my niece.

I was reading an article on hygge and I was like,

Oh,

And look at this book.

Within like 10 minutes,

She had downloaded the Kindle version.

And she said that a friend of hers had also recommended to her the year of living Danishly.

Isn't that cute?

That's like a take off of the year of living dangerously.

I know you already probably got that.

And she said they're both really good books.

The Year of Living Danishly is by Helen Russell and it's a woman who I think by life circumstances ended up living a year in Denmark.

And I think Denmark is always one of the top countries in terms of the level of happiness.

And so I guess this book is about that.

I can't wait to dive into it.

So again,

I'll put that in the show notes as well.

So as I dive into my resolution of chilling out and hyggeing,

That's my new word,

I'm going to practice like hyggeing.

So what needs to be released?

What do I need to release in order for more of this good stuff to come into my life?

I think for starters,

I have to release being glued to my phone.

I have a tendency to answer every email and text immediately.

And I'm going to let that go very wise.

And dear friend of mine always says,

You know,

Meg,

Don't let it run your life,

You run it,

It doesn't run you.

And so I've got to really grab on to that concept.

I've got to release this idea of always trying to do and say the right thing.

How can you chill out if you're just a nervous wreck?

You know,

Just worried about and always second guessing yourself.

And I want to also work on releasing,

You know,

Saying yes to things when deep down,

I really want to say no,

Thank you.

And say no,

Thank you and leave it at that.

Not like continue on saying,

Well,

No,

Thank you because of XYZ.

You don't have to justify anything,

You can just say no,

Thank you.

And as I'm talking to you about that,

I'm talking to myself.

So changes,

It's not always easy,

And,

You know,

But we don't have to wait for New Year's Day to embark on change.

I mean,

Every moment is an invitation into something new.

As the sun rises tomorrow,

Or maybe,

You know,

Today,

If you're up really early listening to this,

Let's just intentionally choose how we want to live,

How we want to feel and how we want to be in this world.

So whether it's goals,

Whether it's resolutions or neither for you,

May all of us experience this year less anxiety,

And more contentment,

More resilience,

And a deeper capacity to love and appreciate one another,

Differences and all.

I think there's such beauty in imperfection,

And contentment in the many miracles that await us every day if we just look around.

So again,

The links to the books that I mentioned,

The planner and most importantly,

My new banana bread recipe are in the podcast notes.

And could I ask you a favor?

I would love it if you would rate and review this podcast and guess what?

Guess what?

There is a little,

Little golden nugget at the end of that if you rate and review my podcast.

Let's see,

I am going to for the next month,

Let's say okay,

Actually until February 1,

I am going to have a drawing.

And if you rate and review my podcast,

You will be put between now and February 1,

If you rate and review it,

You will be put into a drawing to win Meek Vikings.

I like saying waking it sounds like Viking Meek Vikings book,

The little book of hygge.

You will be entered in a drawing to win that book.

I kid you not.

So and also just always a PS if one of your goals or your resolutions is to drink less and live more this year,

Why don't you join me for the 30 day reset in my community.

It's a great way to kick off the new year,

You can start anytime.

And it's a great way to have more time,

Energy and resources for cultivating all things that bring about more coziness and more contentment in your life.

You can hop over to Sobertranquility.

Com don't let the name fool you.

Sometimes people are like sober tranquility.

Oh my gosh,

What does this mean?

No,

It's just a 30 day reset.

And at the end of the 30 days,

Then you can make an informed and intentional decision about your relationship with alcohol and how you want to move forward.

So you can go over to sobertranquility.

Com we'd love to have you join us.

And that is it my friends.

Have a wonderful day a wonderful week,

And I'll see you soon.

Bye bye.

I'm so glad you joined me today.

If you like this podcast,

Please share it with friends and family.

And if there's a topic you'd like me to cover,

That's great.

Just email me at Meg at sobertranquility.

Com.

And if you wouldn't mind,

I would love for you to rate and review this podcast,

It would mean so much to me.

And if you'd like to connect with me,

Check me out over on Facebook at Tranquility Talk.

It's a really fun group that I've created along with Instagram.

I'll see you next week.

Transcribed by https://otter.

Ai

Reviews

Nice conversation!

Excellent! Makes sense.♥️