Hygge Highlights #5
Our weekly roundup of hygge and an invitation to being more open.
Earlier in the week while “surfing” Substack I discovered “The Art of Noticing” by Rob Walker, where he writes some really compelling stuff for “people who want to stay interested in life.”
I haven’t managed to dive into much of his extensive archive yet, however a recent post “How ‘Open-Earred’ Are You?” made for a great family discussion at the dinner table this week.
A recent episode of Sound Opinions included an interview with Timothy McKenry, a professor of music at Australian Catholic University, on an interesting subject: the tendency to get less curious about new music as we age.
McKenry wrote about this in The Conversation: multiple studies, he says, show “our willingness to explore new or unfamiliar music declines with age.” And that’s a pity, he argues, because “the thrill of discovering new songs and new sounds can enrich people of all ages.”
It turns out there’s a pleasing (well, to me) academic term for the openness to new music: “open-earedness.”
The reasons for the frequent decline in “open-earedness” seem intuitive: music gets wrapped up in the emotion and identity-formation of youth, and as that fades into settled adulthood, so does the connection to new sounds. “When we stop actively listening to new or unfamiliar music,” McKenry writes, we cease making fresh music/pleasure connections. (Probably something similar can be said about a general decline in curiosity over time, but that’s a topic for later.)
Crucially, however, this is not universal. Some people remain adventurous music listeners — actively cultivating “open-earedness.”
As a family we are constantly seeking out and listening to “new to us” music, I say new to us, as it’s not always new, new music. Regularly it’s 80s or 90s music we missed at the time but our offspring find, enjoy and introduce to us. Or vice versa we the parentals discover a new artist, new release and introduce it to them. J is a member of the APRA AMCOS through which we are regularly introduced to new local Aotearoa, New Zealand music artists and songwriters. In short we have cultivated just that, an environment for “open-earredness.”
It occurred to me that cultivating more awareness, or returning to a state of childlike curiosity is my motivation behind sharing our “Hygge Highlights.” We all require an openness to expand any sense. A sense of wonder, or any sense of magic we want to manifest into being and experience more regularly. I believe we need to be “open-hearted” for hygge.
Rob’s post and the interview to which he refers, goes on to list a number of suggestions and prompts for becoming more “open-earred”. I thought perhaps collectively this week we could do the same for creating awareness, cultivating curiosity and experiencing more hygge.
This is where I want to welcome you to join “The Imbolc Lioness” subscriber chat. A conversation space in the Substack app that I’ve set up exclusively for my subscribers — kind of like a group chat or hangout, a private space for us to converse and connect. I’ll post short prompts, thoughts, and updates that come my way, and you can jump in and join the discussion at anytime.
For example today’s prompt “How do YOU find hygge?”
To join our chat, you’ll need to download the Substack app, now available for both iOS and Android. Chats are sent via the app, not email, so turn on push notifications so you don’t miss conversation as it happens.
How to get started
Download the app by clicking this link or the button below. Substack Chat is now available on both iOS and Android.
Open the app and tap the Chat icon. It looks like two bubbles in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.
That’s it! Jump into my thread to say hi, and if you have any issues, check out Substack’s FAQ.
And now this is where I share Hygge Highlights gifted from you and your comments over the past week…
“Cracking walnuts by the fire, especially satisfying when getting them out whole.” / “Late afternoon, the sun was low and golden, it really was so beautiful.” / “Sharing really good 70% cacao chocolate and hearing it’s perfect *snap!*” / “Anticipating the witch hazel on noticing the swelling buds” / “A balmy 18 degrees and all the windows are wide open.” / “Finding sprouted horse chestnuts and bringing them home to pot up.” / “ Hugging a parcel of hot chips and ripping a whole in the top to get my hand in.” / “The pleasure of watching the fire catch and start blazing, completely turned my mood around.”
Here are my magic moments…
The fortuitous discovery of a fresh clipping of horopito left on the ground when foraging for my turmeric tea and tiramisù.
Discovering the most delightful mossy patches on our walk, the tactile sense of pressing the soft wet, almost velvety sponge, in the best hue of green.
Enjoying a cup of tea seated outside with “a day off winter” as my J calls them, a gloriously warm North Westerly breeze, our Canterbury is renown for. The local equivalent to Californian Santa Ana winds.
Having a Pīwakawaka / fantail not only check out what I was doing, but actually land on the very apple tree branch I was pruning, not sure he/she was impressed, although sneakily believe they were simply after any bugs I disturbed.
Watching seagulls almost playfully glide in the North Westerly and enjoy being aided by the updraft from our tall pines.
Again I want to thank you so much for sharing your cosy moments with me last week, they are like a lovely warm hug to end the week and a comforting form of strength to take into Monday and the week ahead. I really hope you feel that too!
Please do join me on the chat with your ideas on how we can be of open heart to finding, discovering more hygge. I realise asking you to download the app is a big, big ask. But it does mean we can have a sort of anonymity, that is not available on the other platforms, Instagram etc. However if you are still unsure, uncomfortable, that’s totally OK… I’m happy to share and receive hygge wherever you may be. Take care and hopefully I’ll see you on the chat!
Seasons Blessings 💫
Bron