A New Experiment on Pocket Myriad
Yes!
As Pocket Myriad’s tag “many things at once” suggests, Pocket Myriad is an eclectic site that I’m not afraid to experiment with. I have many interests and European culture is absolutely one of them, and this very popular “hygge” craze from Denmark has captured my imagination. What is it all about? Well quite a lot actually, so much so that I ended up writing down a book’s worth of ideas. Much of that has been from other people’s takes on hygge and how their ideas have interacted with my own positively mellow English culture.
Out of this mélange springs forth Get Cosy, a new book that is my own English take on the Danish concept of hygge, a culture of total cosiness. This work is a first edition, in which I attempt to apply the lessons of hygge to as many areas of life as possible. I am hoping that in future years I will have reason to release further improved editions, containing lessons that I learn from the reception of this first edition, as it’s true that culture is foggy and nailing the perfect version of it will prove elusive. In the mean time, I’ve given the first edition my best shot and I hope you enjoy it.
I have plans to release the chapters of Get Cosy on Pocket Myriad for free, pretty much as you’ll find them in the book, maybe with some added notes or whatever I feel like writing at the time. If you want to read ahead of the scheduled releases then I’ll provide some links afterwards for you to do just that. Now without further ado, onto the first part of the book.
Introduction to Get Cosy
Danish “hygge”, which is spoken like “hu-geh” in English, is a curious idea. In England it would be the state of cosiness in the broadest meaning of the word “cosy”, a feeling I grew up being intensely familiar with in the Lincolnshire countryside. It’s total cosiness, being in complete harmony with the people and environment that surrounds you. You are possessed by a feeling of “I am welcome here. I belong here. Everything is okay.”
To achieve hygge means pursuing a commitment to minimise fear and worry with integrity, to find what is really important to us personally and socially, and to be a force for truth, kindness, and wisdom. I was struck that the English don’t have their own word for something that seems so important, but maybe it’s one of those ideas that floats around in the back of the mind and it takes a moment of real self-awareness to call it out. This is what the Danes have done with hygge.
The idea that the English had to realise an integral part of their own culture from the Danish example is most curious to me, and that feeling lead me to create this book for everyone. I have made an attempt to learn the lessons of hygge in a way that people of every nation can apply to their own culture. If you read books on hygge, you will get the Danish examples of what they do in their culture. People of other nations will likely wish to apply the lessons in their own particular way, drawing upon their own culture in ways that work for them.
In today’s internet age it’s highly possible to be influenced from cultures all over the world, such that you may be inspired to interpret hygge in a way that is entirely new, or you can simply appropriate little things here and there. There’s nothing stopping you from taking elements from South Asia, the Far East, Europe and South America and creating your own warm and welcoming atmosphere in your home, at work, or wherever you find yourself. Cultural appropriation is the natural evolution of culture and it’s an incredible creative space that people of all cultures are right to take advantage of.
I’m certain that this creative influence of hygge is one of the reasons people find it so much fun to engage with. Hygge encourages freedom and creativity, social harmony and positive energy. How you express these influences is entirely up to you, so you can be like the Danes and go wild with candles, or you might prefer incense, wind chimes or grandfather clocks. Perhaps all of the above? It really is up to you to discover.
In the following chapters I will try to communicate hygge in a way that has you authentically celebrate your own spirit, dear reader, regardless where you may be. The hygge culture of cosiness helps us all to feel connected to ourselves and the spaces around us. It connects us to people around us and communal spaces. It connects us to our homeland and the lands of friendly nations. It tells us that we truly belong to certain people and in certain places and it reveals how fantastic that feels.
Future Serialisation of Get Cosy
The Plan: The rest of Get Cosy will be serialised twice weekly (Tuesdays & Fridays) here on Pocket Myriad after the book leaves Amazon’s KDP Select program, which means you’ll be able to read the whole thing here for free.
If you want to be updated when that’s due to start, please sign up to Pocket Myriad’s book release news and you’ll be notified the moment it happens.
Impatient for the scheduled releases? You can get the rest of the Get Cosy book now in electronic ebook or soon in physical paperback formats to suit your taste.
The Amazon Kindle ebook version is available on KDP Select for free right here. If you want to pay me something extra for it then just leave a tip of however much you like (see below). Or you can simply buy the Kindle edition normally, whichever works for you.
If you really like the book and you’d like a physical paperback of it, please sign up to Pocket Myriad’s book release news. Paperbacks are coming, and you’ll get news of the physical editions straight to your inbox the moment they happen. Thank you very much for your interest.
Pocket Myriad’s static page for Get Cosy will be continuously updated with all the latest information, so bookmark that if you find it useful. You can find it right here.
Something Extra
On a general note, there are some new features to point out. Now at any time should you like to reward me for what’s going on here on Pocket Myriad, either concerning the Get Cosy releases or anything else, you can either tip me here on PayPal, or you can take a peek at my fresh Patreon page, although at time of writing I’m yet to fully get to grips with what I can do there. Patreon is a pretty exciting site for content creators and so I’m definitely going to work something out for that in due course.
My PayPal and Patreon links are also in the “Follow” area (which is hopefully at the top right of the page) if you ever feel the need to use them, but again, only if you really want to reward me for my time and content. I appreciate your patronage, and thank you for reading. I’ll leave you with a short YouTube video where you can hear “hygge” pronounced, since I’m sure that will be vexing a few people even now. Thanks to VisitDenmark for the video. See you next time.
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Feedback
Read Get Cosy and want to leave a comment? Just interested in discussing hygge with other people? Do so below.
~Tilveran