Meik Wiking

Happy Place

Fearne Cotton

Relationships, Mental Health, Society & Culture, Health & Fitness

4.7 • 15.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 June 2021

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Some elements of happiness are circumstantial – where we’re born, and our biology – but there are many elements that we personally have control over. Meik Wiking is the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute, based in Denmark, and he feels we’d all be happier if we focused more on the smaller choices we can control. That, he explains, is where the Danish art of hygge comes in.

In this chat with Fearne, Meik explores why policy makers would do well to consider the happiness of their country as an important element of national health – happy citizens are more likely to earn more, less likely need the health service, and more likely to perform random acts of kindness.

Meik’s books, The Little Book of Hygge, The Little Book of Lykke, and The Art of Making Memories are all out now.

Thanks to Stripe and Stare for sponsoring this series of Happy Place. Use the code HP20 when you make your purchase at stripeandstare.com for a 20% discount.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Fern Cotton and this is Happy Place, our cosy sanctuary away from the
0:07.7	commotion of the outside world. Today a wonderfully joyful man from one of the
0:12.6	happiest countries in the world. It's Mike Viking. We are very good at looking
0:17.8	towards the future for happiness. When we ask people how happy do you feel today
0:23.1	or how satisfied are you with life today and we also ask them how happy do you
0:27.1	expect to be five years from now. Universally we see most people expect to be
0:31.0	happier in the future than they are today. Which is good. It's great to have a
0:34.9	sense of optimism but we shouldn't let go of the happiness we can experience today
0:39.8	just because we are anticipating a happier future. Of everyone on the planet Mike is
0:45.0	probably the most qualified to talk on a podcast called Happy Place because he's
0:49.6	the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute which is based in Denmark. Mike and his
0:55.7	colleagues spend their time digging deep into how individuals can cultivate
0:59.8	happiness on a personal level. But it was also really interesting to hear about
1:04.6	the real difference it can make on a societal level when policymakers engage
1:09.3	with the happiness of their country, game changing. It took a moment for Mike to
1:14.2	get his headphones sorted. That's all right. He's a happiness expert, not a tech
1:18.2	expert, but I'm so looking forward to you hearing the chat we eventually managed
1:22.2	to have.
1:52.2	This episode is sponsored by More Than Insurance. They partnered with Dogs for Good,
2:03.3	a charity that brings people and dogs together to make life possible. In just
2:08.6	two years more than have sponsored a number of dogs for good puppies and
2:12.5	together they provided support to hundreds of families and individuals
	...

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