Lagom - The Swedish Way To Live A Balanced Life | Divya Toshniwal |
Sweden is one of the happiest countries in the world and this is because Swedish people know the art of taking a pause. They wait, they listen, they look and they pause. The beauty of slowing down and taking a pause is that it allows your minds to untangle and to have more clarity in your thoughts. Also, it allows you to be in the moment and live in the present. Most of us either dwell in the past or worry about the future and while doing so we forget the most important moment of our life - 'NOW'.
Lagom ( Pronounced as Lah-gum) means 'Just Right', 'Sufficient' or ' Enough'. Lagom is popularly translated as 'Balanced'. The concept is to know what is essential in your life and when something that you have doesn't actually serve any purpose in your life. So in short Lagom is the Swedish mindset of creating balance within one's life by removing stress within one's control.
For decades the world has believed that to be successful one has to do more, be more, own more, work more and spend more. More, More, More. But we cannot draw a boundary on where to stop. We earn more and more and save more and more, we buy more stuff we fill our homes and our minds with more and more. We have an excess of everything, even our emotions and our words, and our expressions.
In this world full of MORE Swedish philosophy of Lagom had shown us a new light of 'just the right amount'.Balance your physical, mental, emotional, financial, social and spiritual life. Of all the wellness trends going across in all the cultures 'Lagom ' seems most practical.
What is the benefit of Lagom? For instance, the most visible benefit is what to wear today. When you have just the optimal amount of things in your wardrobe you have only limited options and thus you don't stress for an hour on what to wear. Saving time for things that matter most. But instead, this full-of-more life has us stuck on what to wear in front of the wardrobe every morning with I-Don't -have-anything-to-wear dilemma every day.
Decluttering your home also declutters your mind. By simplifying your interiors and having less furniture you embrace what you have and make the most of it. Lagom encourages to have stuff which has a practical usage. Why buy souvenirs on every vacation and never use them ever? I once had two full shelves of such souvenirs that I NEVER used. But decluttering has left me in a state of peace and now I don't buy any souvenirs just for the sake of it. I get it only if I am going to use it.
'Fika' is a break in the day for coffee and something sweet, just setting aside time for relaxation, socialization and spending some quality time. The Swedish take this break twice or thrice in a day. While on the outside it may seem like just a sweet tradition but Fika is a form of re-centering to keep that internal Lagom scale balanced. So I have now started 'Fika' but without the coffee.
We always think there is enough time to do things we want to and we keep postponing them. We keep saying tomorrow and tomorrow never comes. And then one day we end up saying," I wish I would have.....". Lagom helps you to find Your Today.
Rather than having a burnout after a 60-hour workweek try and find the little breaks in between and strike a balance between self and work. After a long working week go on and shake hands with nature, walk alone in a park or with someone you like. Create the balance between Work and Life.
Find your own definition of balance by asking yourself- ' Is this Lagom?'
Bring Hygge in your life. Live in the moment. Be moderate in order to enjoy the joys of life in abundance. Amid the more typical American life questions, like “Am I joyful?” and “Can I do better?” add-in these much more reasonable questions: “Am I content?” “Is this good enough?”
Divya
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