Happy Words from around the World (E52)

Happiness for Cynics podcast

This week, Marie and Pete talk about happy words and concepts from countries all around the world and why they are so important for us all. 

Transcript

[Happy intro music -background]

M: Welcome to happiness for cynics and thanks for joining us as we explore all the things I wish I’d known earlier in life but didn’t.

P: This podcast is about how to live the good life. Whether we’re talking about a new study or the latest news or eastern philosophy, our show is all about discovering what makes people happy.

M: So if you’re like me and you want more out of life, listen in and more importantly, buy in because I guarantee if you do, the science of happiness can change your life.

P: Plus, sometimes we’re kind of funny.

[Intro music fadeout]

P: So Marie, this week we’re talking about non English happiness, laugh.

M: [Incredulous voice] Non-English happiness? No, non -Western.

P: Non-Western.

M: Well, no, no, there is Western in there. We are talking about words from other cultures and other countries that have connotations of happiness that we don’t have in our language in the English language.

P: Yes. So it just goes to show that happiness is not all science and laboratories and people in white lab coats doing fabulous experiments. It is also cultural, and there’s lots of cultural references for happiness and the best thing about this stuff, is that a lot of these words can’t be translated.

M: Yes.

P: They are what they are, and they stand in their own entity and we should hearken to them, hearken to them. Well, that’s a good one, Hearken to thy Happiness.

M: …Okay.

P: You love it when I get creative.

M: I love it when you make up words.

P: Hearken is a word.

M: Not in that context it’s not, laugh.

P: Hearken to thy happiness, I like it. I’m going with.

M: All right, we’ll go with it.

P & M: Laughter

M: Alright. So what I do love about these words that we’re going to talk about today is that they are just so closely tied to a lot of stereotypes for how we see these countries and their cultures.

P: That is true, laugh.

M: So they really are a great way to better understand other people from around the world and what makes them happy.

P: What happiness is to a Danish person might not be the same to a Chinese person nor a Japanese person.

M: Mm hmm.

P: There are lots of little ways that you can celebrate it.

M: Absolutely. So shall we get started?

P: Yes.

M: We’ll get started with one that we’ve already covered, which we know and love.

P: Laugh, Hoo-geh [Hygge].

M: Laugh.

P: Which I think is wrong [pronunciation].

M: Which is actually Hee-geh [Hygge] from Denmark. And this is all about cosiness and comfort. It’s a warm fire and a good book.

P: Hot chocolate.

M: Mmm hot cocoa, wearing a comfortable new jumper for the first time and just snuggling under a blanket fires.

P: Soft blankets and fires.

M: Yes, absolutely. And it’s part of Danish and Norwegian culture and has been for centuries. And it’s just a great way to reframe those long, cold winters that they have over there.

P: Oh, yeah. It’s a great idea. You’re going to be locked in for hours anyway, so why not enjoy it?

M: Exactly. And you could look at the winters and think, you know, the sun sets really early and it’s really freezing. And I can’t do all this stuff. Or you could look at it in a great, positive way and find ways to be cosy and enjoy that cosiness, either by yourself or with friends. So it is very subjective from what I’m reading and understanding. But really it’s cosiness and comfort, Hygge.

P: I like that. Yes I’m in.

M: Yes.

P: Next one is from Finland, so same area, but slightly different country. See-soo [Sisu], is that right?

M: Sure.

P: Okay.

M: S-i-s-u.  

P: So, the Finnish, they also have huge winters. And that’s why they need Sisu. It’s a resilience and stoic determination in the face of adversity.

M: Yes, its strength, its grit and it’s about overcoming challenges and taking action against all the odds. So, it’s something to have pride in and again it’s part of the Finish national character. So just like in Australia, we take great pride in people like Bob Hawke, who can scull a yard glass, laugh.

P: Laugh! What an achievement.

M: In Finland it’s all about this grit, Sisu and having this ability to overcome adversity.

P: Mmm, stick it out and get through the tough area and come out the other side, conquer it.

M: My Grandma would love this. She lived through the Great Depression, and then she definitely, that generation, have Sisu.

P: Yes, yes, definitely.  

M: Yep.

P: Ooh the next one… laugh.

M: Free-luft-sliv [Friluftsliv]

P: Free-luths-live? Laugh.

M: From Norway.

P: Don’t say that one when you’ve had a few drinks.

P & M: Laughter.

P: You might say a bad word.

M: Laugh. So this one literally translates to ‘free air life’. But it means so much more and a lot of the Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, all of those countries that have winters that we just can’t fathom. I almost think they’re crazy for doing it, but they love their outdoor sports. Even in winter.

P: It’s funny isn’t it? It’s 42 degrees below Celsius, let’s go out and play hockey. Laugh!

M: Exactly, laugh. And so Friluftsliv in Norway is a freer life, but it means more about being active and outdoorsy. So it’s about mindfully spending time in nature and being one with the natural world.

P: Not letting the winter or the weather disparage you from being active outside.

M: That, too. Definitely. I think the weather doesn’t necessarily factor in. It’s a year round thing, and it’s about understanding the importance. And we’ve spoken about this before. The importance of connecting with nature and the outdoors.

P: Yeah, okay.

M: Yeah, so it’s all about that spiritually uplifting that nature provides whether or not your freezing your butt off or sweating your balls off.

P & M: Laughter

M: It’s about being outdoors.

P: Finding a way to enjoy it and interacting.

M: Yeah, and living the free air life.

P: Ohhh…

M: Mmm hmm.

P: Right, off to the Netherlands, Niksen.

M: Niksen!

P: Niksen.

M: Oh, we’ve just had five days of this, haven’t we Pete?

P: Laugh. Yeah pretty much.

M: Five days of Niksen, the art of doing nothing. Laugh.

P: Ahh… It’s brilliant. But doing nothing with people that do your kind of nothing that’s also really important.

M: Doing nothing with friends is better.

P: But your friends have to do your kind of nothing.

M: Yeah, absolutely.

P: Kinda has to match, because my kind of nothing may not necessarily be your kind of nothing and then we’d just be butting of heads.

M: Yeah, that would be lame. So, in the Netherlands Niksen is the art of doing nothing, and it’s about taking a break. It’s about knowing when your body needs to recover and this is so important in today’s day and age.

P: Mmm, so important. Talk about this a lot with my work. It is okay to take a day off.

M: Mm hmm.

P: A day off work, a day off cooking, a day off training, a day of being a mum. Like kids “Get your own meals, I’m taking a day off.”

M: Absolutely. And there’s a great Ted X talk by Manoush Zomorodi, and she talks about how boredom can lead to the most brilliant ideas.

P: I love that concept.

M: Yep, absolutely. And look, that’s kind of along the same idea here in that you need to give your body and your mind time to do nothing. And that’s no screen time, no places that you’ve got to be, rushing and let your stress levels come down and in today’s day and world, with all the things that we’re trying to fit into our days, don’t let this be yet another tick box thing that you have to do right.

P: Mmm.

M: But you need to make sure you recover from all of that stress and stress can be a good thing as long as you’re not always in it.

P: There’s also a lot of research that talks about the value of this in accessing your creativity on your sub consciousness. Allowing your subconscious to come to the floor allows the creative responses and sometimes a problem that you’ve been trying to solve for ages and ages pops into being because you’re doing nothing. Isaac Newton, apple on the head.

M: Mm hmm.

P & M: Laughter.

M: Or it hits you on the head.

P: Laugh. Okay, we’re staying up north.

M: Sweden.

P: Sweden, Lagom.

M: This is something… I’m not quite sure I’m down with.

P: Laugh. A measured response.

M: It’s a mindset of everything in moderation. Look, I would say that this is really good advice, but I tend to do the opposite, laugh.

P: Well… I guess that’s the thing is that if you’re someone that does do the opposite that maybe this is a concept that you can bring into being three months out of the year?

M: …Maybe, maybe. Maybe one.

P: Laugh. We’ll talk about it later. Re-finding that moderation, perhaps, and riding that crest on the wave for a little bit and then going off on your merry way and doing the crazy things like walking up Machu Pichu on having rocks hurled at you.

M: Well, yes, that was a whole different thing, but I’m definitely more of a go hard, go fast, rest. Go hard, go fast, rest.

P: Yeah, I can see how that would work. Alright Japan.

M: Yes.

P: Ohanami.

Gathering to enjoy and appreciate cherry blossom, sakura, so amazing. It’s just the most blissful experience. I did this in Tokyo when I was on tour, and what struck me was the silent, reverent nature of it.

So it’s in downtown Tokyo. And yet everyone is just quietly walking under this canopy of white cherry blossoms that was incredibly visually stunning. But the moment wasn’t lost on anyone, it created that whole idea that we talk about a lot of mindfulness, being in the moment, like it was so easy because the softest little sound of the petal was what you could hear.

M: The sound of a petal?

P: Yes.

M: That’s very quiet.

P: But it has a noise. So it’s not like you’re It’s not like you’re all being in a church and stuff, but there is this sort of dulling of everything, and everyone goes in with it, and it’s quite mesmeric. If you haven’t done it, I say do it once in your life if you can.

M: Ok, nice. We definitely had a very different cherry blossom experience in D.C. But equally as beautiful.

P: Yeah, right.

M: Just not as beautiful or as quiet. Tourist area.

P: Oh, laugh. I was struck be the quietness and how everyone was… yes, reverential.

M: I think, actually, back to what we were saying before it’s again indicative of the different cultures.

P: Mmm. Ah yes, very true.

M: Yes, so Japan actually have a word for this. Where as that word doesn’t exist in the English language. So maybe that’s why the experience is different when you see the cherry blossoms in Washington.

P: Maybe.

M: Mmm hmm. Alright what’s next?

P: Staying in Japan, Wabi-sabi!

M: Wabi-sabi. I like this one.

P: Scream it out, Wabi-sabi! Laugh. See what people do.

M: Love it and I love this idea.

P: I love this too.

M: The Japanese just… It’s a beautiful concept, I think so it’s about imperfection and impermanence and incompleteness. And being a traditionally Buddhist country, accepting the transience of life and embracing things in their most natural state leads to contentment.

P: Mmm.

M: So this could be about appreciating the beauty in chipped pottery or an ageing face or fleeting cherry blossoms.

P: Laugh. Well, there’s another reference in there for the Japanese, for the cracked pottery. It is the art of Kintsugi, which is where they actually fill the cracks with gold and that is again, it’s a very Buddhist concept in that even the imperfections of life should be celebrated.

M: Mm hmm.

P: I love that concept. I think that’s very Japanese as well.

M: I think we’ve spoken about this before, but I love that idea of smile lines in someone’s face, and I’ve always been drawn to those beautiful photos of real close ups of elderly people, you know, with huge grins that take up their faces and crinkly eyes.

P: Yep.

M: And that’s always just been something that draws me in. But I love it so Wabi-sabi is that.

P: Staying in Japan. I read about this one.

M: Mm hmm.

P: Shinrin-yoku, forest bathing!

M: Yes.

P: It’s scientific! Laugh. It’s been around for ages, but in since the 1980’s, Japan’s actually been spending money on investing in this and actually governments are giving forest people… Forest people, what do you call them?

M: City people –

P: Laugh.

M: – prescriptions to go walk in the forest.

P: Yes.

M: It’s actually a clinically proven or scientifically proven way to decrease stress and anxiety, and so it’s being prescribed. So it’s a wonder drug.

P: Yep. It is, and what it actually does is there’s an oil that is given off by forests and nature and when we spend time in forests. And they say, apparently the time is two hours minimum. It’s a good two hours, it’s not like a quick walk in the park, it’s a two hour soaking and that allows us to actually breathe in some of these oils that are exerted, and it actually boosts our immune system.

M: Definitely. I’m not saying two hours isn’t a good way to do that, and I’m not sure about the oils, but there’s definitely science at 15 minutes walking in a forest is enough to decrease your blood pressure, stress levels and anxiety levels.

P: Yep.

M: Just 15 minutes of walking in the forest is enough and back to what we’re saying earlier just being outside in the outdoors can have such benefits for your happiness levels.

P: It does, yep.

M: Free air life of Norway or the Shinrin-yoku of Japan. Definitely.

P: I mean, there’s a hole heap of scientific research, if more people are more interested in this at Oxford University they’re also investigating into this with the research there about forest bathing and its being prescribed in the UK as well. It’s also taken off in Canada and in the US, and I think Australia as well.

M: Hmm, there you go. All right, next. Back to Ireland.

P: I can’t do an Irish accent.

M: Laugh.

P: We’re talking about crack! Laugh.

M: Craic. So this one’s C-r-a-i-c and this is so Irish to me.

P & M: Laughter.

M: So it is about fun and good times, and it’s having a laugh and sharing stories, sometimes at the pub with your mates. What is more Irish than that?

P: Very true.

M: I love that one, and then next one is in Entrückt, which is German.

And that is about being enraptured and absent. Being in your own mind. It’s about being lost in your own thoughts.

P: Ok.

M: So I guess it could go to that meditative empty or it could be full. But it’s about being lost in your own mind.

P: Ok, all right.

M: Which is a lovely way to be, I think, and it’s lovely that they have a word for that. So it could be when you’re writing or reading or just daydreaming.

P: Is it flow?

M: It can be flow, absolutely. Could be when you’re doing the dishes or when you’re writing as well. And it’s more about being less hurried and just allowing that to be.

P: Mmm.

M: And also can lead to a bit more creativity and calm, less anxiety, less stress. So I really do like that idea as well. Being a writer, as well.

P: Laugh.

M: All right, what’s next?

P: Spanish, Estrenar. I hope I said that right? Laugh.

M: Sounds about right.

P: To use or wear something for the first time.

M: Oh I love that feeling.

P: Now we have a friend who does this. Anyone who’s got any Venezuelan friends out there, apparently, this is a thing to wear new items of clothing on… is it New year’s day or New Year’s Eve?

M: I think they do it New year’s eve to ring in the new year though.

P: Yeah, so it’s a tradition that you have, along with jumping seven waves and eating 12 grapes or something.

M: What?

P: Yeah, yeah. It’s our South American friends who have to go to the ocean and jump over seven waves on the first day of the year.

M: Oh. As you do. Each to there own.

P: Laugh. Anyway, this is about Estrenar, wearing new things. And I remember this when I played tennis. Whenever I had new tennis socks or new shoes or something. I always played better. Gives you confidence.

M: Oh, see once you win in a pair of undies, that’s your lucky undies.

P: Ewww.

M: You wear them all over.

P: Laugh!

M: But there is something for me just so nice about putting on new pair of sweats with the warm, fleecy fuzziness.

P: Yep, ok.

M: Love it.

P: Yeah, yeah, I get that.

M: So for me that’s Estrenar, wearing something for the first time. That’s just fluffy and comfy.

P: Yeah, they also talk about you can apply it to something like a new cherished possession. We’ve talked about this in terms of cars.

M: Mmm hmm.

P: Every time I jump in my little car, I have a little smile on my face. “Good morning, darling.”

M: Aww.

P & M: Laughter.

P: That’s Estrenar, the allowing it to imbue you with a sense of happiness or a sense of contentious and confidence.

M: All right, we might tip to Greece and go with Meraki, and I love this one too.

P: Ooh, food!

M: Anyone who has had Greek neighbours or friends or family or Italian as well, this is all about the joy that you put into [cooking], it’s a labour of love and for Italians and Greeks, what better way to show your love than to cook for your family?

P: Yeah, definitely. Always wanted to be in the kitchen with someone’s Nona and say “Just cook with me and I’ll learn”. Laugh.

M: Mm hmm, yeah, so it’s about giving yourself to your task and deriving happiness for yourself, but also creating something that could bring happiness for others.

P: Yep.

M: So, Meraki, like that one.

P: Off to Russia Azart, the Russian word Azart is all about finding joy or excitement from making yourself uncomfortable.

Crazy Russians, laugh! It’s about jumping in the snow after a sauna.

M: Absolutely, and again, I keep seeing these words, and they’re just so typical of these countries.

P: Laugh!

M: Crazy Russians going from sauna right into the snow.

P: No, no, it’s the birch twigging?

M: Birch twigs.

P: That’s a crazy one, beaten to death with birch twigs after being in a sauna.

M: Laugh.

P: [Whispers] Very Catholic.

M: Really, this is about making yourself uncomfortable. So, you know, it could be about knowing that scary movies scare the bejesus out of you and watching it anyway or going skydiving or, you know, the birch twigs, laugh.

P: Challenging yourself.

M: Making yourself front up.

P: Yeah, putting yourself in a potential situation, I guess. Which brings up your adrenaline, that sort of stuff. Wakes you spirit up.

M: Yeah, exactly. And that’s the happiness or the good part about it. It’s not just being uncomfortable, [it’s] actually doing it and finding excitement and joy out of that.

P: Alright off to Turkey, Keyif.

M: Yes!

P: Taking time every day to savour the simple moments of life.

M: Yes. So it’s the pursuit of a moment of idle pleasure.

P: Oh, I love idle pleasures. Simple pleasures.

M: Mmm hmm. Yep, Absolutely. And then in Brazil, we’ve got…

P: Why do I have to do this one?

M: Laugh.

P: All of our Brazilian volleyballers are going to scream at me here, Saudade.

M: Yep. Well, sau-da-je.

P: Oh, it’s got the G thing, that’s right. Yes, you’re right. Sorry, Anderson.

M: And this one is happy but sad. I think we’ve all been here, so it’s a feeling of melancholy or longing or nostalgia for a happiness that once was and can never be again. So if anyone has lost a loved one or can look back with fondness on moments in their life, that can’t happen again.

P: Yep.

M: For me that that might be my university days. I just loved being university. I’ll never be there again.

P: Laugh.

M: But, boy, were they great. Oh, and this next one’s great, too.

P: Jayus from Indonesia. Ha, Dad joke.

M: Dad joke.

P: It’s a joke that’s unfunny, literally.

M: Laugh! Or told so badly –

P: – that you have to laugh. We’ve all had one of those experiences.

M: Laugh, Hey.

P: What?

M: It’s what horses eat.

P: [Pity laugh] Oh dear, that wasn’t told well.

M: Because you were meant to say “Hey”. That’s why. But that was one of my dad’s favourites.

P: Laugh. And the last one from South Africa, Ubuntu.

M: Yes, so this is about a common humanity and oneness. It’s, I am because you are. It’s about understanding that we live as part of a society. So as much as you can be an individual with individual rights and individual wants none of that matters if you don’t have the society to help you to achieve those things.

P: Mmm.

M: And it acknowledges that we are all part of the whole.

P: I take this a little bit more individually. It very much resonates with me with a yoga practise that I have, in I see the light in you that is also in me. It’s that recognition of common humanity.

M: Mmm hmm.

P: And how that if I could do that with every single person that I see then that brings about that humanitarian aspect. I think it’s wonderful, it was mentioned in a Barack Obama speech.

M: Yes.

P: For the funeral service for Nelson Mandela?

M: Yes, at the memorial service. So he said that Nelson Mandela’s greatest gift was that there is a oneness to humanity that we achieve ourselves by caring for those around us.

P: And that is a lovely way to wrap up this episode.

M: Sure is.

[Happy exit music – background]

M: Thanks for joining us today if you want to hear more please remember to subscribe and like this podcast and remember you can find us at www.marieskelton.com, where you can also send in questions or propose a topic.

P: And if you like our little show we would absolutely love for you to leave a comment or rating to help us out.

M: Until next time.

M & P: Choose happiness.

[Exit music fadeout]

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