FOR all my suggestions last week on how to get the new year off to a positive start, sometimes things just don’t go as planned.

Without going into any of the details, the first week of the new year didn’t go at all as expected in our family.

I ended up having to cancel any plans I had made for last week.

To say I was disappointed by the first week of 2023 would be an understatement.

On the flip side, however, I had some time to read a new book.

My Hygge Home, by Meik Wiking, the Danish founder of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen.

For the last ten years the HRI has looked into various aspects of our wellbeing, including how the physical space we spend time in impacts on how we feel.

You may well already be familiar with the Scandinavian art of “Hygge” – a lifestyle centered around feeling safe, relaxed, warm and comfortable at home.

Hygge embraces everything from soft furnishings and comfortable clothing to the right kind of lighting and connecting with friends over dinner.

Wiking makes the point that the primary function of our homes is to have somewhere safe and warm to live.

However he adds that we often miss the opportunity to turn our homes into places which have an actively positive effect on our wellbeing.

Homes should be places where don’t just exist but where we can thrive mentally and socially.

Wiking points out that even the smallest of changes can have a big impact.

In his own family he recalled how dinner with teenage children became much more serene and interactive just through deciding to light a candle each evening.

After the difficult week we had had, taking on some Hygge principles seemed like a positive thing to do in our family too.

So over the weekend we started off by putting away all the Christmas decorations and having a good clear out at the same time.

It was amazing how much more serene our living room feels now most of the clutter has gone.

Whilst I don’t for a minute claim to have become a Hygge specialist overnight, I do want to get the year back on track after its disappointing start.

To that end I have resolved to adopt another Hygge principle over the coming days.

Instead of eating dinner in front of the tv, we are going to make a concerted effort to sit round the table together and to talk about the highs and lows of the day.

If you get time over the coming week perhaps you might like to look round your own home.

Think about whether any small tweaks might make it feel more cosy and closer to the comforting refuge you deserve.

We often can’t predict the curved balls that life will decide to throw at us, but at the very least we can try to make sure our home is a place that we look forward to returning to at the end of every difficult and challenging day.