4 Ways to Hygge Lent

4 Ways to Hygge Lent this Month

4/2/2019

Make Lent More Lifestyle-Cozy

Do you celebrate Lent?

If so, you know we have several weeks left this month, before Easter. Many people who do celebrate Lent take something away from themselves during the Lenten season and get it back again on Easter.

I suggest using hygge to give yourself the gift of cozy as you navigate the loss of whatever it is you gave up. I didn't choose to give anything up this year, and haven't for many years, but I have been creating hygge moments this Lenten season and would love to share some ways that you can, too.

The practices that Lent promotes are those, in adapted form, that most people find benefit their physical and mental well-being most. Lent, being a time-limited period, is an ideal opportunity to press the reset button for yourself, mentally and physically, and to clear some of the spiritual clutter from your life. - Jo Kneale, How to Hygge the British Way

Lent, cozy lifestyle, hygge lifestyle, hygge

[Hygge] encompasses a feeling of cozy contentment and well-being through enjoying the simple things in life. If you've ever enjoyed reading a book indoors on a rainy Sunday or a cup of hot cocoa
on a snow day, you've experienced hygge without even knowing it.
- What is Hygge? CountryLiving.com

4 Ways to Hygge Lent

If hygge helps us create coziness and contentment, how can you bring those feelings to your experience of Lent? Here are some ideas...

(1) Create a hygge space for your Lenten practices. If you’re reading a different devotional (like I am) or reading another book
about Lent, create a space for reading that draw you to it.

Choose your favorite chair or spot on the couch. Add fluffy pillows and wear your favorite socks.

Make your quiet times cozy – if you’re reading through the gospels during Lent, grab a cup of tea before you settle in to read. Choose a journal just for Lent and write down your thoughts about what each passage means for you, personalizing it, instead of just taking it in.

If this is a morning practice and mornings are chilly, at first, bring a cozy throw or have it there already.

(2) Make cozy food for your Friday night dinners. If you’re a family who goes meatless on Fridays during Lent, make those meals comfort food meals.

Make veggie burger spaghetti or pasta primavera or some other meal your family will love. Imagine the difference in how you’ll all feel about this Lent practice, in general, if everyone looks forward to Friday night’s meal each week.

Speaking of this idea, stay tuned, this month, for some suggestions for what you might make for your Friday night dinners.

(3) After dinner on Friday, have movie night and watch a family movie together. Mention that it’s a way to celebrate Lent and make Friday nights special. Make popcorn.

Another option would be to play board games after dinner.

(4) Have a family after-church quiet time. After you’re home and have eaten, gather in front of the fireplace (or a hurricane candle) and journal your thoughts about that day’s sermon.

Younger kids can draw whatever comes to mind about what they experienced in church that day. If your kids are older, you could have a conversation about it with them.

Which of these ideas appeals to you most? Is there one you might try?

For other hygge lifestyle articles, check out my free lifestyle library.

See you next time!

Love, Jeanine

12 Comments

Debi Walter link

4/2/2019 09:53:31 am

Jeanine,
I am celebrating Lent for the first time by consciously giving up something I enjoy. While Easter has always been celebrated, Lent gives me time to really let what Christ did for me sink into my soul. Pondering is good.
I have never heard of hygge but realize I practice it often. I love creating cozy.
Every morning for my quiet time I light a candle and cuddle up with my favorite throw. It is a time a look forward to when I wake up.
Thanks for introducing me to a new word—love increasing my vocabulary.
Blessings,
Debi

Jeanine Byers link

4/2/2019 07:06:10 pm

You're welcome! And if you're doing it already, I bet that the more you learn about it, the easier it will become to do it on purpose and the more you'll love it. Or at least that's the way it was for me.

Aletha McManama link

4/2/2019 10:21:51 am

Jeanine, I do not celebrate Lent, but I do believe I have incorporated hygge from time to time. I do love your tips on how to achieve it though. Will keep these in mind when I just need to unwind and enjoy the simple things.

4/2/2019 07:07:13 pm

Great! It's a wonderful way to unwind. To deepen the enjoyment of those simple moments.

Shrilekha link

4/2/2019 01:31:24 pm

This is something new for me. I have never heard about it . Thanks Jeanine for information

4/2/2019 07:08:22 pm

You're welcome! You can learn even more about it by accessing the lifestyle library. There's a whole hygge section in addition to the other lifestyle ones.

Martha link

4/2/2019 02:53:07 pm

I celebrate Lent by reading Bible passages every evening. I am so happy that my grandson has also started doing this.

4/2/2019 07:09:40 pm

That's wonderful, Martha! I'm glad your grandson is doing it, too. I would love to have family quiet times with my son like we used to, but at the moment, we don't.

Andrea Amador link

4/2/2019 03:44:38 pm

Hi Jeanine, Thank you so much for sharing this insight into enjoying life's simpler pleasures in a much more devotional and intentional way. By the way, how do you pronounce the word, hygge?

4/2/2019 07:11:04 pm

Hi Andrea! You are most welcome. I love sharing it. It is most commonly pronounced hue-ga but I have also heard hue-geh, which shortens the second syllable a bit.

Alice Gerard link

4/3/2019 12:43:48 am

On Sunday, I was happy to have the honor of going to the Community Missions in Niagara Falls to help prepare and serve the dinner. There are people who come who are alone or who are homeless and who live in the mission's transitional housing. Meals are served there seven days a week, three times a day. Sunday was the monthly cabaret. It included a meal and a performance by a ukelele band with a sing-along. I felt so happy to help cut up the dessert and to give out creamer and sweetener to anyone who wanted coffee. There were a few people from another church who also helped serve. One was a lady who is originally from Venezuela. She started talking to us and said something in Spanish. When I responded in Spanish, she was gleeful. During the sing-along, she insisted that I dance with her. She also tried her hand at the ukelele (she plays a four-stringed guitar), and she was a delightful ball of energy.

4/3/2019 11:21:37 am

Sounds amazing! You were creating hygge moments for others, which is wonderful. And how cool that there was a cabaret!

4 Ways to Hygge Lent this Month

Make Lent More Lifestyle-Cozy

4 Ways to Hygge Lent

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Jeanine Byers

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