The Hyggelig Journey

Lately, I’ve found myself anticipating winter — not because it is here, but because its presence has begun to register. A shift in tone. A quiet deviation from the familiar. We are still within autumn, yes, but the pattern is clear: a cooling, a thinning of light, a withdrawal. Winter does not arrive with grandeur. It infiltrates. It operates in intervals — a guest that does not overstay, yet rearranges the room all the same. It brings with it not only the chill, but a quiet audit of our habits. Our homes, designed for air and openness, falter in the face of this visitor. We adjust. Coats reappear. Blankets are retrieved from high places. Improvisation becomes method: Havaianas with woollen socks. Soup, made not only to nourish but to ground. This is where hygge emerges — not as aesthetic, but as principle. The deliberate act of creating warmth within transience. A structured comfort, built from attentiveness. Outside, clouds obscure the light. Inside, a countermeasure: sof...

A major randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, recently published, has demonstrated that daily multivitamin supplementation may decelerate biological ageing, as assessed by epigenetic markers. Conducted by researchers at Columbia University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the study followed over 2,200 participants aged sixty and above for a period of two years, evaluating the long-term effects of daily micronutrient intake. Epigenetic age — distinct from chronological age — was estimated via DNA methylation, a biomarker increasingly recognised for its accuracy in gauging biological ageing. The results revealed a marked slowing of this process among those receiving the multivitamin: on average, participants exhibited approximately two years less biological ageing when compared with their counterparts in the placebo group. These findings lend weight to the hypothesis that subtle yet chronic micronutrient deficiencies may hasten the ageing process, even in the a...

There were ten of them — though at times they spoke as one murmuring voice, and at others, like ten distinct silences, each fractured differently by the strain of being. They were not chosen as idols for a shelf, nor as exhibits in some canonical museum. Rather, they happened to me — each arriving, unbidden, during the long, luminous solitude of study. They were not so much read as endured, not so much admired as absorbed. What they gave me was not knowledge, but permission — to question, to unravel, to dwell within the unsayable. Sophocles carved fate into stone. He gave suffering a chorus and lent blindness a voice. In his tragedies, destiny is not an event but a law — impersonal, inescapable. His characters do not fall because they err, but because they exist. He was the architect of inevitability. Through him, I grasped that form can contain anguish without flinching. Dante Alighieri descended, and rose again. His Divine Comedy traced the arc of the soul with a pilgrim’...

There was always a door. Not wide, not narrow — simply there, as doors tend to be. People filed through it in decent clothes and decent thoughts, offering each other smiles approved by custom and time. I watched from a few paces off, not out of defiance, but because something in me paused. They said I could enter, if I wished. It would only cost a nod, a small silence, a looking away. Nothing dramatic. Just enough to fit in. Just enough to be invited to the right tables and clapped on the back by the right hands. But there were others — figures without names, without ease, the sort who carry their whole lives in their eyes. They were not welcome. Not at that table. Not beyond that door. And I, for reasons I could never quite translate into speech, could not leave them behind. So I stayed outside. Not with banners, not with noise — only with presence. They say one must choose: to be included by excluding, or excluded by including. I made my peace with the latter. It is quiet...

I’ve had dengue. Once more, it has graced me with its unwelcome presence — the second such visitation, and one I could well have done without. The fever was mercifully mild, hardly worth noting. But the itching — dear God, the itching — it was as though my entire being were begging to be scratched. Hands, feet, even the genitals clamoured in unison, each demanding attention with a kind of maddening urgency. Unlike the first bout, there was no dramatic onset to herald the illness. No high temperatures, no conspicuous pain. It was the pruritus alone — insistent and unrelenting — that finally betrayed the virus’s return. I worked through the week in stoic ignorance, chalking up the fatigue to the usual flurry of daily demands. I was, perhaps, a touch more irritable than usual; my thinking occasionally stumbled, like a foot catching the edge of a rug. Yet in the absence of fever and with joint pain too faint to raise suspicion, I all but overlooked the presence of the disease. ...

I once asked a friend why he’d caused such a scene at a wedding — there’d been raised voices, a shattered glass, and an impromptu dance in the midst of someone’s speech. All rather out of character for a man usually so measured. His response caught me off guard. He gave a small shrug, his gaze drifting somewhere beyond the present, and said, quite plainly, — It was one of those things, you know? As if that were explanation enough. As if certain disturbances belonged to a category all their own — needing neither justification nor regret. I said nothing. There was, I sensed, a quiet truth in his words. Sometimes life swells beneath the surface, and when it finds no proper channel, it bursts forth — in laughter, in tears, in chaos — at a wedding, or on some otherwise forgettable Tuesday.

We live in an age captivated by spectacle — by the towering achievement, the public triumph, the grand legacy. Yet there is a quiet and enduring wisdom in Mother Teresa’s words: “We cannot all do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Not all of us are called to reshape the world in sweeping strokes, and perhaps that is precisely the point. For life, in its truest form, unfolds not in declarations but in gestures — the cup of tea brought without being asked, the phone call made simply to listen, the quiet presence kept beside someone in pain. These small acts, infused with genuine love, carry a weight far greater than their size suggests. They are not dramatic, and they rarely attract applause, yet they hold the fabric of our common life together. There is a kind of sacredness in doing the unremarkable with care — an elegance, even, that resists the noise of modern ambition. To love well in the small things is to dwell in the present with intention. It i...

I found myself, quite perplexed, observing a rather animated discussion on the Internet — of all things, about bathing. The participants, otherwise respectable members of a Northern club, chattered away with abandon, their arguments flowing as freely as a brook in spring. To them, bathing was nothing more than a self-indulgent luxury, an exercise in mere well-being rather than a necessity of hygiene. They dismissed the notion of its practical value, reducing it to sheer vanity. Lamentable. I pictured them, as a thought experiment, transported to the unyielding heat of Rio de Janeiro. The sun, unrelenting, bearing down upon them; the air thick with humidity, clinging to their skin like a wet woollen cloak. And then, inevitably, the scent — the ripe, unmistakable musk of human exertion, its pungency announcing itself well before its bearer appeared. A harsh yet inevitable reminder of reality, unsoftened by the forgiving chill of their northern climate. What reigning arrogance...

There is, after all, a fine yet profound distinction between being human and being humane. The former is a matter of birth, a biological inevitability; the latter — a choice — deliberate, tremulous, and often inconvenient. To be human is to possess a body that breathes and falters, to be bound by hunger, weariness, and the quiet certainty of decay. But to be humane? Ah, that is another matter entirely. One may walk the earth for decades, fully human yet never truly humane. One may have hands yet never reach out, eyes yet never truly see, a voice yet never utter a word that eases another’s sorrow. It is not the mere fact of existence that dignifies a person, but the unseen, uncelebrated acts — the pause before judgement, the mercy given in silence, the refusal to let another soul slip unnoticed into despair. And how often do we mistake the two? How often do we believe that merely living is enough? That to feel pain is to understand it, when in truth, only those who have tran...

When everything seems lost — wait. The abyss is in no hurry. It simply exists, silent and patient, while you still breathe. Still feel. Still can. The climb does not ask for heroes. It does not require epics, glory, or the sound of trumpets announcing impossible feats. It only asks for someone willing to go on. To move forward, even without knowing if the path is right. Distance does not matter. Life has no ruler to measure its worth. Delay does not matter. Time is a strange creature — sometimes gentle, sometimes cruel, but never final. Danger does not matter. Fear is only a mirror, reflecting what you believe yourself to be. Living is this: one step. Then another. Then another. And before you know it, you have gone beyond.

Mastodon is not merely a network. It is the shape of something inevitable — a return, a quiet course correction, a recalibration of what the internet was always meant to be. It is not new, not really. Rather, it is something that has always existed beneath the surface, waiting for the moment when the old structures begin to fracture. The internet was never meant to be owned — no more than language, no more than the sky. And yet, we surrendered it. We allowed our conversations to be corralled into centralised silos, where our words were not our own, but commodities to be extracted, measured, and repackaged. For a time, we mistook convenience for connection. But nothing out of balance can last indefinitely. Mastodon emerges through the cracks, not as a rebellion but as a restoration. A federation, a network of many voices, many spaces — no single master, no singular rule. Each community stands alone, yet remains connected, a quiet defiance against the idea that the online wor...

Walking is more than movement — it is a return, a quiet homecoming. Before words, before thought, there was this: the body in motion, footsteps pressing into the earth, the world unfolding with each step. To walk in nature is to nourish something deep within us, a hunger we often do not name, but feel — the hunger to belong, to breathe, to be whole again. Perhaps we seek solitude — not the heavy solitude of locked rooms and stagnant air, but one that is alive, that breathes with the trees and hums with the wind. In nature, we are alone yet never lonely. The sky stretches vast above us, untroubled by our worries. The rustling leaves whisper that we need not rush. Here, in this quiet, there is a rare gift: the freedom to simply be. Or is it movement we long for? The body, so often contained — trapped in chairs, stiffened by routine, shaped to fit a world of straight lines — rediscovers its grace in the simple act of walking. The spine unfurls, the breath deepens, the arms swi...

There was a time when belonging was not something we questioned. It existed in the quiet fabric of daily life — in the rhythm of familiar streets, in the nods exchanged with neighbours, in the unspoken understanding that we were part of something beyond ourselves. Then, without fanfare, something changed. We became preoccupied with independence, mistaking it for strength. We prized self-sufficiency but overlooked its cost. We withdrew, ever so slightly at first, until distance became the norm. Belonging was no longer assumed; it had to be curated, managed, explained. We speak now of connection, yet we skim the surface of relationships, hesitant to wade too deep. And yet, belonging has not disappeared. It lingers in the spaces between our hurried lives, waiting to be recognised. It is there in the warmth of a hand steadying another, in the kindness that expects nothing in return. It exists in the simple, human acts we too often dismiss — preparing a meal for someone else, li...

Goodness does not move in secrecy, nor does it weave intricate plans to assert itself. It does not conspire because it does not need to. It does not manipulate, does not calculate, does not seek advantage. It simply exists — and in existing, it transforms. Goodness does not force, does not impose. It does not seek to convince through rhetoric or demand adherence. Instead, it inspires. It is found in the quiet dignity of an honest action, in the clarity of a decision made without expectation of return. It does not need recognition to be real. It moves without urgency, but its presence is undeniable. Yet goodness is not passive. It is not a surrender to complacency or an invitation to be trampled. It does not dissolve into abstraction or hesitate in the face of difficulty. Goodness has weight, presence, substance. It is an active force — a choice, deliberate and renewed, moment by moment. And because it does not conspire, goodness is freedom. It does not bind, does not confin...

Time does not slip away — it waits. Motionless, silent, watching. You say you have no time, yet time is always there, staring back at you. What you lack is not time, but intent — the courage to claim it, to shape it, to own it before it owns you. Ah, this tired habit of blaming the clock. As though time were something outside of you, pressing in, closing doors, slipping through your fingers. But time does not run, nor does it flee. It is you who rush past. You who look away. You who declare it lost when it was never anywhere but here. And time? Time watches. It sees you filling the hours with what must be done, what should be done, what you were told must be done. And you say you cannot, that it is impossible, that you are too busy. But busy with what, exactly? With the things you choose — knowingly or not — over the things you claim to long for. Yet before the ticking, before the measuring, before the universe itself, there was no time. No hours, no days, no waiting. Only ...

It took me a while to realise that I should never nod at a patient in the midst of an outburst. The gesture, so instinctive in everyday conversation, carries an unexpected weight in a clinical setting. A simple nod can be interpreted as agreement, encouragement, or even collusion, when in truth, it may be nothing more than a reflex of attentiveness. In moments of heightened emotion, every movement is observed — the faintest lift of an eyebrow, a barely perceptible shift in posture, a pause held a fraction too long. Non-verbal communication speaks its own language, often more powerfully than words. A misplaced gesture can deepen distress, an ill-timed silence may be mistaken for judgement, an unconscious frown might introduce doubt where none previously existed. Even fatigue conspires against us. A yawn — however innocent or inevitable — may be misread as impatience or indifference, fracturing the fragile bridge of trust in an instant. And then there is touch, that fleeting ...

Many patients confide that their sex life has deteriorated and that they feel abandoned within their marriage. Emotional disconnection often gives rise to frustration, resentment, and a gradual erosion of intimacy, creating a cycle that can be difficult to break. While physical desire is influenced by numerous factors, emotional closeness remains fundamental to sustaining both relational and sexual fulfilment. A study published in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy has revealed that gratitude and forgiveness can help mitigate the negative effects of loneliness on marital and sexual satisfaction. The research found that couples who actively cultivate these emotions tend to maintain a deeper emotional connection and a more fulfilling sex life, suggesting that appreciation and acceptance reinforce both emotional bonds and physical intimacy. Loneliness within marriage may seem paradoxical, yet it is a common reality. When emotional distance sets in, sexual desire and harm...

While my professors extolled the virtues of Foucault, I was absorbed in Lacan. While they dissected Freud’s psyche, I drifted through Jung’s vast, symbolic landscapes. And as they championed revolutionary governments, I quietly envisioned a world shaped not by the fervour of ideological battles but by the delicate equilibrium of sociocracy — where decisions emerged not from dominance, but from the resonance of collective wisdom. It wasn’t rebellion. Not the loud, performative kind. I wasn’t the student who slammed books shut in protest or baited professors into futile debates. No, my resistance was quieter, woven into the pauses between lectures, in the knowing glance exchanged with an unspoken kindred spirit, in the silent refusal to let convention dictate curiosity. I didn’t seek to discredit Foucault, nor did I wish to discard Freud entirely (after all, who else could have spun an entire school of thought from the delicate thread of unresolved childhood?). I simply felt ...

Pain arrives without ceremony. It does not send letters, nor does it announce itself. It simply happens. One moment, life is as it was; the next, pain is there, seated in the room, occupying space we never granted it. First, the shock. Then, a silence heavy with echoes. And finally, the inevitable question: what now? They say something can emerge from this — a transformation, a quiet and imperceptible growth. Calhoun and Tedeschi (2006) call it post-traumatic growth. A fine name, full of science. But the truth is, it is not a matter of choice. Growth does not come because we wish it to; it comes because, unnoticed, something begins to shift. One day, in the midst of an ordinary routine, the taste of coffee feels fuller, the wind brushes against the skin in a way it never did before. The pain is still there, but it has taken a different shape. Perhaps this is what they call wisdom. Some emerge from the fire with a newfound reverence for life — a quiet astonishment at having ...

Some time ago, I wrote about intuition, and since then, several people have reached out to say they consider themselves highly intuitive — attuned to subtle details and able to anticipate events. Yet, through deeper conversations, I came to realise that, in many cases, this was not intuition but hypervigilance — a symptom of Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD). This ever-present sense of risk is not a gift but an unconscious defence mechanism, developed over time to navigate unstable environments. When a person grows up or lives under sustained stress, fear, or unpredictable relationships, the brain adapts by scanning relentlessly for danger. The slightest shift in tone, a fleeting gesture, or an unexpected silence can be read as an omen, as though something is always on the verge of going wrong. But this is not foresight — it is the past intruding on the present, old threats projected onto new situations. The trouble is, this state of perpetual vigilance does no...

The patient entered, draped in their finest attire, as though fabric alone could mend the fractures time had inscribed upon the body. There was something deliberate in the way they carried themselves, an unspoken belief that dignity could be preserved through careful presentation. The pressed linen, the impeccable cut of the fabric, the way the collar sat just so — none of it was accidental. Their makeup — poised, restrained — was not vanity but a quiet act of defiance against the slow erosion of time. And when they spoke, their voice carried the measured cadence of a life spent selecting words with care. It was polished, deliberate, softened by the patience that only years can bestow. Yet beneath this cultivated poise, the body bore the weight of too many summers. It had known heat and fatigue, had stretched itself across decades, and had grown accustomed to carrying burdens both visible and unseen. A body that understood, without resistance, the quiet art of endurance. Th...

Sometimes I write selfish pages. Not out of greed, nor vanity — no. I write them as if whispering to myself in the dark, so I don’t forget. Because forgetting is easy. The noise of the world is thick, sticky, clinging to the skin and numbing the senses. And in this blur of days, of duties, of silences swallowed whole, I must remind myself of what truly matters. Life isn’t a straight line, nor a grand revelation. It is a slow unravelling, a peeling away of what isn’t yours until you find what is. Never stop fighting, they say, until you arrive at your destined place. But what is destiny if not the place where you are most yourself? And how do you know when you’ve arrived? You don’t. You just keep moving, sculpting yourself with each step, shedding skins that no longer fit. There must be an aim, a north, a whisper calling you forward. Otherwise, what is effort but exhaustion? With purpose, even suffering holds meaning. The wind scatters those who walk without direction, but t...

Our energy levels are shaped by habits that either fortify or deplete us. Recognising this is essential for sustaining vitality and well-being. Natural elements serve as powerful allies. Sunlight stimulates the production of vitamin D, indispensable for mood regulation. Physical movement enhances circulation and alleviates stress. Meditation quietens the mind and nurtures emotional equilibrium, as does deep breathing. Proper hydration ensures the body functions optimally, warding off fatigue. Restorative sleep is paramount for both physical and mental renewal. Acupuncture revitalises the system and eases tension. Emotional and social well-being are equally vital. Living in the present alleviates anxiety and fosters a deeper sense of contentment. Meaningful relationships provide support and contribute to overall well-being. A nourishing diet supplies the body and mind with high-quality energy. On the other hand, certain habits sap our energy. Persistent fear stifles action, ...

When my father fell ill in his final days, the lyrics of Shawn Mendes’ In My Blood became an unexpected refuge, helping me process the reality unfolding before me. The song’s plea — its raw, urgent cry against the weight of helplessness — resonated in a way that felt almost too personal. “Help me, it’s like the walls are caving in” — those words captured the suffocating dread that gripped me in the small hours, waiting for news, hoping for a miracle I already knew would not come. The song does not offer easy comfort; nor does it deny the pain of endurance. Instead, it acknowledges the struggle — the desperate search for strength when every instinct urges collapse. “I just wanna give up, but I can’t.” That was it, exactly. The exhaustion, the emotional erosion, the moments when hope felt like a cruel joke. And yet, beneath it all, an unspoken defiance: the fight continues, not because it is easy, but because surrender is unthinkable. The grief that followed those long hours ...

Gustav Klimt once said, “Art is a line around your thoughts.” A line — thin as a whisper, trembling yet deliberate — emerges from nothingness. It does not impose itself. It does not command. It is barely there, yet it holds. It is the first breath of form, the fragile boundary between the unsaid and the spoken. Without it, thought is a flicker in the dark, a thing half-lived, dissolving before it can be known. A vision stirs. Not summoned, not controlled. It arrives unbidden — whole yet veiled, elusive yet certain. It lingers at the edge of perception, pressing gently, insistently, against the mind’s quiet. It cannot be seized outright. To reach for it is to risk shattering it; to hesitate is to watch it dissolve. And so, the line must be drawn. But not too soon. Not too rigidly. It must breathe, as thought itself breathes, as meaning unfolds. The hand moves, uncertain yet assured, guided by something beyond logic. An intelligence older than language, something that knows ...

The brilliance of children has always intrigued me. Quick, perceptive — they move through the clinic with an ease that even my own shadow cannot match. They take in every detail, every corner, as if the space were an extension of themselves. And yet, for all their boundless energy, they surrender to treatment with an openness that never ceases to amaze me. They feel the shift in their very skin, in the deep, unspoken language of the body. They arrive unsettled, their small frames weighed down by a world too vast, too demanding. Some are anxious, others irritable, their nervous systems frayed by stimuli too great to bear. But as the treatment unfolds, something changes. Their tension eases, their breath deepens. By the time they rise from the table, they are transformed — lighter, brighter, as if an invisible burden has been lifted. They leave with a spring in their step, their feet barely touching the ground, as if walking on air. Their parents — ah, the parents — watch i...

As an acupuncture physician, I am keen to share emerging research that highlights the profound influence of mental health on longevity. Growing evidence suggests that psychological well-being not only shapes the risk of chronic disease and cognitive decline but also plays a pivotal role in the ageing process. A study in BMJ Mental Health underscores how stress, anxiety, and depression accelerate harmful biological mechanisms, whereas psychological resilience acts as a safeguard against premature ageing. Acupuncture is increasingly recognised as an effective approach to strengthening mental resilience and preserving cognitive function, offering a holistic means of fostering long-term well-being. Research indicates that acupuncture modulates key neural networks involved in emotional processing, mitigates neuroinflammation, and enhances neuroplasticity. A study in Nature Communications found that electroacupuncture prevents astrocytic atrophy in the prefrontal cortex, thereby ...

Exhausted. That was the abiding sentiment as I closed the final patient file of the day. My hand brushed against my bag with the air of a man signing his own eviction, and I set off, making my way out of the consulting room. I trudged forward as though bearing my own coffin, lost in thought. The day had been fruitful. Those who arrived in pain departed unburdened, and those who had lost their sense of purpose returned home as if waving to the sea — only to find the sea waving back. And yet, why was I so utterly spent? Perhaps my hands ached, robbing me of action. Perhaps I granted myself the right to claim the prize — the heavy trophy — of one who had made a difference. But none of it truly mattered. Sometimes, weariness alone suffices — a quiet reminder of life passing by. After all, every mark left upon the world carves its consequence into the skin.

There comes a moment — quiet, weighty, almost imperceptible — when you realise you have chosen. No more lingering at the threshold, no more waiting for certainty to descend like divine instruction. The choice has already been made, even if your hands still tremble. So you step forward. Then again. And then — ah, then you see it — how the ground is uneven, how the air thickens with doubt, how your own footing falters. The path does not open graciously before you; it resists, it tests, it demands. A mistake. Another. And then another. They come like waves, unrelenting, each one threatening to drag you under. You thought it would be different. That once you found your way, clarity would follow, the world would recognise your purpose, and all would unfold accordingly. Instead, the world remains indifferent, unmoved as you stumble. And so the question arises — perhaps this was never your path. Perhaps you misread the signs, mistook yearning for destiny. But the path does not spe...