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Hygge (pronounced as “Hoo-gah”) is a Danish concept of well-being and enjoying life with contentment through warmth and simplicity in everything we do. The word roughly translates to “coziness” but encompasses a whole gamut of happiness. As Meik Wiking, an international speaker and CEO of Happiness Research Institute says, “It is about an atmosphere and an experience, rather than about things. It’s the art of creating intimacy and coziness of the soul”

Having a cup of hot tea with fritters on a chilled evening, reading a book indoors on a rainy day, sitting by the fireplace with warm socks on a snowy night, cuddling up with your loved one while watching a movie, enjoying the warmth of flavourful food on the dining table with friends and family while discussing big and small things of life or simply sitting by the window and gazing the vastness of sky can be termed as hygge…You just need to be present in the moment and receive it with an open heart.

For many of us, our home is our comfort zone that provides an atmosphere of blissful serenity, warmth and peace. Being no exception to it, my home is the place that makes me hyggeligt. It’s my sanctuary, my Eden and my oasis. It’s an extension of my soul that makes me feel perpetually connected to it. I believe my home is not just a place but a sum total of all my family members and their experiences. I have stayed away from my home for quite a long time to realize that I have ended up taking a part of it with me wherever I have been. This probably is the reason that makes me feel connected to it forever.

Each and everything that fills up my home, right from spoon and sofa to walls and windows vibrate with certain emotions that I have attached to them. They resonate with memories of time immemorial and bind me to them. They play the images that have been captured in the deep crevices of my brain and cast them on the screen of my mind while refreshing the forgotten memories. I can see myself embodied in them and possibly that’s the reason, I find myself being welcomed at home with a warmth of oneness. The moment I enter my home, it snuggly embraces me and allows me to soak in its homey bosom and insulate me from the demanding world of shambolic chaos. I can peacefully breathe till I feel my soul has slipped in a state of elysian joy in its lap.

Since my home is a place where I can relax, unwind and let my guards down, I don’t wish to adulterate its aura with something that can never form a part of it. I choose to retain its sanctity and raise its soothing vibes that help me to heal from the scathing demands of the corporate world. The recent up ticking trend of ‘Work from Home’ that has encroached the home space is one such example that hits my conscience and makes me uncomfortable. I wish I could keep it at bay from my home.

With the advent of technologies and telecommunications, we have succeeded in bringing the world far too closer. In fact, it’s so close now that virtual boundaries have blurred with amalgamation of home and office space. The next few decades will be overshadowed by a constant fear of losing our sanctuary to these technologies and concepts of remote working, that we proudly invented to make life simpler and happy.

One cannot stop admiring the power of nature or pity the ignorance of technology-obsessed mankind by looking at the paradigm shift of ‘Office’ and ‘Home’ from the age of industrial revolution to the current era of Artificial intelligence. There was a time when ‘Office’ and ‘Home’ were different entities. People worked hard in the office and came back home to relax and retreat. But the urge for bettering mankind with sophisticated tools and gadgets controlled by machines, made people spend more time at offices and less at home. This resulted in diluting the essence of home and enriching the definition of office as a place to work, eat and sleep and even stay at times. But as nature has its way of being omnipotent, it recently turned the tables on mankind, forcing many of us to stay back home and make it a place to work, apart from eat, sleep and stay. We got the entire office inside our home and blurred the boundaries between personal and professional space. The home which was generally viewed as an artistic and multifaceted workplace for the lady of house, suddenly became a place of work for every member of the family. We abandoned the concept of an office as a separate entity altogether and unfortunately, the essence of home got diluted yet again.

Although, we need to get in-line with changing times to meet the demands and responsibilities that are expected by the society, we need to be aware of the way we perceive and inculcate these things as part of our lifestyle. Working from home may have its share of advantages, only if it remains aloof from the definition of home. A home should always remain an alluring place of retreat to look forward to, after having been exhausted by the office chores. Off lately, since we have brought office inside our home, we have started looking out for valley retreats, farmhouses and beach resorts to replenish our lost energies. This unfortunate trend of finding an external source, far away from home to recharge, should trigger the alarm for retaining the much-needed inviolability of our home.

If not the complete home, there must be a certain nook or space in the home that should remain unscathed by the tools of social media and other gadgets. It should remain free from the regular clutter and clutches of office demands and allow you to snug up there at the end of the day. This should be a complete “Me-Space” where one can meet thyself. Slow music with a mild fragrance and perfect illumination would be a Goldilocks add-on to this cozy corner of your heavenly abode in making you fall in love with your home again and again.

Thanks to my wife, who sensed the source of delight within the warm confines of our home. She meticulously planned a built-in window seat in our hall that serves as a place of retreat for each one of us at any given time.

This built-in window seat at my home, is more specifically the “Me-Space” place, that unchains and unbinds me from the outside world and allows me to melt in its lap. It is my most treasured spot in the entire home that creates a serene spot to lounge and gaze out the window for hours together.

In late hours of night, when the city pulls the blanket of stars over it, I slide over the smooth black marble of the seat and hang my legs out the window allowing the cool breeze to caress them. I shut out the rest of the world, unwind myself and relax to the ragas of urban silence, intermittently bothered by the faint rumbling of vehicles near the faraway bridge. The city of dreams ebbing in sleep under the cast of yellow sodium vapour lamps allows me to unburden myself too along with it. I feel at peace and in harmony with everything around me. It lulls me in its lap, disencumbers my worries and washes away my day’s tiredness.

I am sure, everyone will find such a place in their home which showers eternal love and creates a warmth of oneness. It stays unique and perennially unchanged awaiting to feel your presence. It remains your forever companion and becomes your loving mother or caring spouse whenever needed. That space in a home listens to your thoughts, encourages your dreams, motivates your creativity, and introduces you to your true self. And the best part is that it retains and buries everything within itself, ultimately becoming a part of you.

Pascal Mercier has very aptly quoted in his book ‘Night Train to Lisbon’ - “We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there.”