Why are Danes the happiest people in the world? The answer, says Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, is hygge. Loosely translated, hygge - pronounced hoo-ga - is a sense of comfort, togetherness, and well-being. "Hygge is about an atmosphere and an experience," Wiking explains. "It is about being with the people we love. A feeling of home. A feeling that we are safe."

Memories are the cornerstones of our identity, shaping who we are, how we act, and how we feel. In his work as a happiness researcher, Meik Wiking has learned that people are happier if they hold a positive, nostalgic view of the past. But how do we make and keep the memories that bring us lasting joy? The Art of Making Memories examines how mental images are made, stored, and recalled in our brains, as well as the "art of letting go" - why we tend to forget certain moments to make room for deeper, more meaningful ones.

In The Little Book of Lykke, Meik identifies the six factors that explain the majority of differences in happiness across the world - togetherness, money, health, freedom, trust, and kindness - and explores what actions we can take to become happier. As he reveals, we can deepen our blissfulness and contentment with little adjustments in our behavior, whether it's eating like the French (sitting around a table and savoring our time) or dancing the tango like Argentinians in Buenos Aires.

Hygge is not about candles. You can feel hygge without candles, woolen socks, or a fireplace. It's about something more. It's about mindset. Danes have been living this lifestyle for centuries. I studied how they live and applied what I've learned. My life has never been better. Now it's your chance to discover the secrets of living hygge.

As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity.

From relishing a quiet moment of comfort to enjoying the beauty of nature or even just reveling in the deliciousness of a favorite snack, you too can do like the Swedes and open your eyes to all of life’s pleasures, no matter how simple. Niki Brantmark, founder of the popular blog My Scandinavian Home, offers easy-to-follow how-to’s, practical lists of tips and tricks, and unique insights into the most fascinating aspects of Swedish culture, from morning dips to Christmas crafting. Njuta is the ultimate guide to rejoicing in the moment, anytime and anywhere.

What makes a truly perfect recipe for spaghetti and meatballs? Is there an ultimate devil’s food cake? What makes a recipe worthy of your forever files? In Smitten Kitchen Keepers: A Kitchen Counter Conversation, listeners get the chance to sit across the counter from Deb Perelman and hear her thoughts on these questions and more, as she chats about 44 fail-safe, satisfying recipes you’ll rely on for years to come.

Do you wish a decluttering expert could come alongside you to help tackle specific roadblocks that always derail your decluttering journey? Dana K. White, self-proclaimed recovering slob and author of Organizing for the Rest of Us and Decluttering at the Speed of Life, is here to help with her original audio series, Decluttering Deep Dives.

Bringing Up Bébé meets Last Child in the Woods in this lively, insightful memoir about a mother who sets out to discover if the nature-centric parenting philosophy of her native Scandinavia holds the key to healthier, happier lives for her American children.

How do the French create the elusive and alluring sanctuaries they call home? This question long intrigued Danielle Postel-Vinay. Thanks to a chance encounter with a French expat in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and years of immersive research, she embarked on a quest to discover the secrets of the French home aesthetic. Experiencing first-hand la belle vie - the beautiful life - Postel-Vinay now shows everyone how to create their own French sanctuary, a home sweet maison, no matter where they live.

We live in an epidemic of anxiety. Most of us assume that the key to overcoming it is to think our way out. And for a while it works. But there is always something that sends us back into the anxious spiral we’ve been trying to climb out of. In Beyond Anxiety, Dr. Martha Beck explains why anxiety is skyrocketing around you, and likely within you. She also tells you how to not only reduce your anxiety but use it to propel you into a life filled with peace, meaning, and joy.

At the end of a difficult year, what if this December were soothing instead of stressful? Celebrate a new kind of holiday season this winter — one where you radiate calm and cultivate delight. A calm Christmas is filled meaningful interactions, special gifts, and thoughtful observations of annual traditions. This enchanting guide embraces festive preparations and authentic celebrations, and then ushers in the New Year in a holistic, nurturing way. Author Beth Kempton gently encourages listeners to prioritize holiday hopes and take a slower, more mindful approach.

In Sweden there is a kind of decluttering called döstädning, dö meaning "death" and städning meaning "cleaning." This surprising and invigorating process of clearing out unnecessary belongings can be undertaken at any age or life stage but should be done sooner rather than later, before others have to do it for you. In The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, artist Margareta Magnusson, with Scandinavian humor and wisdom, instructs listeners to embrace minimalism.

What makes Denmark the happiest country in the world - and how do Danish parents raise happy, confident, successful kids, year after year? This upbeat and practical book presents six essential principles, which spell out P-A-R-E-N-T. With illuminating examples and simple yet powerful advice, The Danish Way of Parenting will help parents from all walks of life raise the happiest, most well-adjusted kids in the world.

It's autumn in Yulethorpe, and everyone is gloomy. It's cold and drizzly, and the skies are permagrey. The last shop on the high street - an adorable little toy shop - has just shut its doors. Everything is going wrong for Yulethorpe this autumn. Until Clara Kristensen arrives. Clara is on holiday, but she can see the potential in the pretty town, so she rolls up her sleeves and sets to work. Things are looking up until Joe comes to Yulethorpe to find out exactly what is going on with his mother's shop.

Michael Pollan, known for his best-selling nonfiction audio, including The Omnivores Dilemma and How to Change Your Mind, conceived and wrote Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World as an Audible Original. In this controversial and exciting listen, Pollan explores caffeine’s power as the most-used drug in the world - and the only one we give to children (in soda pop) as a treat.

Do you walk in a room to organize and find yourself paralyzed and overwhelmed? Do you find yourself spending money on organizing solutions that don't work? Organizing isn't easy. And having ADHD doesn't make it any easier. But it doesn't have to be impossible.

Motivational Hypnotherapy's Joel Thielke is a world-renowned hypnotherapist and author who has helped millions of people worldwide. This powerful hypnosis program is designed specifically to increase motivation and the focus to clear away clutter, let go of possessions you don't need, and create a stress-free zone for yourself. This is the perfect program for listeners of any age, no matter your level of hypnosis experience. We recommend listening to this audiobook for 21 days in a row to get the most out of your listening experience.

How Dogs Love Us answers the age-old question of dog lovers everywhere and offers profound new evidence that dogs should be treated as we would treat our best human friends: with love, respect, and appreciation for their social and emotional intelligence.

Is bourbon the quintessential American liquor? Bourbon is not just alcohol - the amber-colored drink is deeply ingrained in American culture and tangled in American history. From the early days of raw corn liquor to the myriad distilleries that have proliferated around the country today, bourbon is a symbol of the United States. This course traces bourbon's entire history, from the 1700s, with Irish, Scottish, and French settlers setting up stills and making distilled spirits in the New World, through today's booming resurgence.

If you’re anything like most new puppy parents, it won’t take long to realize that your fuzzy little bundle of joy can also bark, chew, jump, and mysteriously get into A LOT of trouble around the house. Don’t panic - slowly remove the shoe from your pup’s mouth and open this book, because it’s time to start successfully training.

In Mycophilia, accomplished food writer and cookbook author Eugenia Bone examines the role of fungi as exotic delicacy, curative, poison, and hallucinogen, and ultimately discovers that a greater understanding of fungi is key to facing many challenges of the 21st century.

We live in a world of seeds. From our morning toast to the cotton in our clothes, they are quite literally the stuff and staff of life, supporting diets, economies, and civilizations around the globe. Just as the search for nutmeg and the humble peppercorn drove the Age of Discovery, so did coffee beans help fuel the Enlightenment and cottonseed help spark the Industrial Revolution. And from the fall of Rome to the Arab Spring, the fate of nations continues to hinge on the seeds of a Middle Eastern grass known as wheat.

Clean up the clutter in your home and clear out worry from your life with this guided meditation and relaxation program, from certified hypnotherapist, Joel Thielke. It's as easy as turning on the tracks and falling asleep! The Sleep Learning System is specially designed to work with your subconscious mind during your sleep cycle.

A revolutionary approach to the techniques of working with horses, by a renowned instructor. In Horses Never Lie, renowned horse trainer Mark Rashid challenges the conventional wisdom of "alpha leadership" and teaches the listener to become a "passive leader" - a counterpart to the kind of horse other members of a herd choose to associate with and to follow. Applying Rashid’s principles and techniques helps cultivate horse personalities that are responsive and dependable regardless of the rider.

Why are Danes the happiest people in the world? The answer, says Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, is hygge. Loosely translated, hygge - pronounced hoo-ga - is a sense of comfort, togetherness, and well-being. "Hygge is about an atmosphere and an experience," Wiking explains. "It is about being with the people we love. A feeling of home. A feeling that we are safe."

In The Little Book of Lykke, Meik identifies the six factors that explain the majority of differences in happiness across the world - togetherness, money, health, freedom, trust, and kindness - and explores what actions we can take to become happier. As he reveals, we can deepen our blissfulness and contentment with little adjustments in our behavior, whether it's eating like the French (sitting around a table and savoring our time) or dancing the tango like Argentinians in Buenos Aires.

Memories are the cornerstones of our identity, shaping who we are, how we act, and how we feel. In his work as a happiness researcher, Meik Wiking has learned that people are happier if they hold a positive, nostalgic view of the past. But how do we make and keep the memories that bring us lasting joy? The Art of Making Memories examines how mental images are made, stored, and recalled in our brains, as well as the "art of letting go" - why we tend to forget certain moments to make room for deeper, more meaningful ones.

In an interconnected world filled with goal-oriented perfectionists, Lagom reminds us to slow down, to decompress and destress, to be mindful of sustainability yet not deny ourselves pleasure. But lagom is not a rigid set of rules - sometimes you need more, sometimes you need less, and that's fine, too! With this idea-filled guide, you can learn to find greater balance, well-being, and harmony - and, most importantly, make time for the things that matter most in life.

In Holy Hygge, author Jamie Erickson unites the popular Danish practice with the deep theological truths of the gospel. She unpacks the seven tenets of hygge: hospitality, relationships, well-being, atmosphere, comfort, contentment, and rest. In addition, Erickson shows how the external veneer of a lifestyle can create a life-giving home only when placed under the hope of the gospel. Holy Hygge provides practical ideas for using hygge to gather people and introduce them to faith in Christ.

Cravings for comfort, for coziness, for contentment: everyone experiences the desire for a happier, less stressful, and more serene life. Hygge, the Danish-born philosophy, is one proven way to achieve such a life. From the Old Norse for “well-being”, hygge embodies a philosophy that is as much a mind-set as it is a way of life. Specific activities are designed to encourage you to cultivate togetherness and joy at the smallest and simplest things in everyday life.

It's autumn in Yulethorpe, and everyone is gloomy. It's cold and drizzly, and the skies are permagrey. The last shop on the high street - an adorable little toy shop - has just shut its doors. Everything is going wrong for Yulethorpe this autumn. Until Clara Kristensen arrives. Clara is on holiday, but she can see the potential in the pretty town, so she rolls up her sleeves and sets to work. Things are looking up until Joe comes to Yulethorpe to find out exactly what is going on with his mother's shop.

Moving to America in 2008, Finnish journalist Anu Partanen quickly went from confident, successful professional to wary, self-doubting mess. She found that navigating the basics of everyday life - from buying a cell phone and filing taxes to education and childcare - was much more complicated and stressful than anything she encountered in her homeland. At first she attributed her crippling anxiety to the difficulty of adapting to a freewheeling new culture. But as she got to know Americans better, she discovered they shared her deep apprehension.

In her international bestseller The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning Margareta Magnusson introduced the world to the Swedish tradition of döstädning, or “death cleaning”—clearing out your unnecessary belongings so others don’t have to do it for you. Now, unburdened by (literal and emotional) baggage, Magnusson is able to focus on what makes each day worth living. In her new book she reveals her discoveries about aging—some difficult to accept, many rather wondrous.

Is your life so crazy busy that you don’t even remember the last time you sat down and got to relax and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea? Remember those carefree days when you sat for hours talking with your girlfriends or your buddies without interruption? Remember how you felt? Happy. Relaxed. Content. Comfortable. It was just you and them. That level of happiness is Hygge.

Hygge (hoo-gah) is a Danish word but a universal feeling of being warm, safe, comforted, and sheltered - an experience of belonging to the moment and to each other. When life gets hectic, work grows stressful, and the days fly by, unplug and tune in. Hygge anchors us, reminding us to slow down, to connect with place and with one another, to dwell and savor rather than rush and spend.

Ever wondered why people in the Nordic countries are said to be the happiest in the world? Nordic Lifestyle has been praised as the antidote to modern day busyness. Understand how the Nordics have managed to keep it all together, even through hardship and freezing temperatures.

At the end of a difficult year, what if this December were soothing instead of stressful? Celebrate a new kind of holiday season this winter — one where you radiate calm and cultivate delight. A calm Christmas is filled meaningful interactions, special gifts, and thoughtful observations of annual traditions. This enchanting guide embraces festive preparations and authentic celebrations, and then ushers in the New Year in a holistic, nurturing way. Author Beth Kempton gently encourages listeners to prioritize holiday hopes and take a slower, more mindful approach.

Journalist Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians for more than 10 years, and he has grown increasingly frustrated with the rose-tinted view of this part of the world offered up by the Western media. In this timely audiobook, he leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks on a journey through all five of the Nordic countries to discover who these curious tribes are, the secrets of their success, and, most intriguing of all, what they think of one another.

When she was suddenly given the opportunity of a new life in rural Jutland, journalist and archetypal Londoner Helen Russell discovered a startling statistic: the happiest place on earth isn't Disneyland but Denmark, a land often thought of by foreigners as consisting entirely of long, dark winters, cured herring, Lego and pastries. What is the secret to their success? Are happy Danes born or made?