The Hyggelig Journey

In the dim light of the clinic, there is a moment when silence weighs like an ancient secret. The needle touches the skin, and the body responds before the mind can catch up — knowing, somehow, what thought has yet to grasp. Pain, anguish, insomnia — the invisible knots of existence — woven not only into the meridians but also into words left unsaid. And then, a conversation begins. Not the kind that drifts between habit and haste, lost in the noise of routine. But a finer listening, a thread of thought unspooling precisely where the body seeks relief. Acupuncture opens doors the mind has closed without noticing. Therapy steps in quietly, tidying the chaos, like sweeping dry leaves without a sound. Because touching the body is not enough if the mind remains trapped in the dim corridors of fear. Pain is not only what happens to us, but what we do with what happens to us. Thoughts stitch themselves into feeling, tightening the knot in the chest, keeping pain captive. And h...

Some people are so accustomed to themselves as they are that abandoning what harms them requires a certain amount of time and effort—something that is not for the therapist to judge. I recall a patient whose chronic pain made the periodic use of medication essential for clinical management. Yet, she was reluctant to rely on it. Her refusal to take any medication stemmed from a fear of becoming dependent on it. She associated it with a previous experience, where it took her far too long to wean herself off an antidepressant she had used daily. However, this was now a reheated emotion. What could have been resolved in a few follow-up appointments—if not the worst of the crisis at least—stretched into a long journey of many interventions. But, given her self-imposed limitations, perhaps that was the time she needed and was capable of allowing herself. The most painful part of humanised listening is knowing that much of what is advised and prescribed will be ignored by the patient. Hel...

It is always fascinating to distinguish between what we do on a whim, without much thought, and what we do repeatedly, often without realising it. Many of our actions are not deliberate choices but secondary reactions, shaped by patterns we seldom notice. Take, for instance, a simple decision to try an ice lolly with an unusual flavour — nothing remarkable in itself. But if you find yourself needing to consult Google, your pet, and a set of divination beads before making such a choice, then it’s worth asking whether this is part of a deeper behavioural pattern. The truth is, we rarely recognise our own habits. They are often glaringly obvious yet invisible to us. This is because our attention is drawn to what is in the foreground of our awareness, while the forces at work in the background remain elusive, shaping our actions in ways we do not fully understand. Consider insomnia as rebellion. You may feel powerless over your daily life, as if time is slipping through your fi...