The Hyggelig Journey

Once, in a classroom, a professor told us that his clientele was equally divided into two parts. One part consisted of patients who visited his office out of necessity or curiosity. The other half, he told us, was made up of the ghosts of those people. The professor was not emphasising any religious experience — nothing of the sort. Rather, he was illustrating the phenomenon of emotional codependency. Many of the people who visited the clinic would report their experience to friends and colleagues, who, in turn, would only begin to take an interest as they observed changes in the patients. To some extent, this is organic and natural, but it becomes codependency when the "ghost" can only find motivation to seek care if it is entirely dependent on another person’s account. The problem with this attitude runs deep. In many cases, it is a form of self-sabotage, postponing self-care under a pretext. These individuals lack the crucial understanding that happiness is ...