Hygge relies on us finding a balance between self-containment and wholehearted participation, personal liberty and awareness of the needs of others. It connotes a caring, civilised mode of behaviour that builds companionable ease and trust.

When we are content, our daily actions are infused with a quiet satisfaction that we share with those around us. We become aware of and responsible for other people's well being and they, in turn, for ours. Hygge captures a way of being with other people, caring for them and ourselves.

When we hygger, we frame the moment, give it our full attention, savour and hold it, in an awareness that the moment will pass. We feel how one moment becomes layered on to the next; past and present mingled together - everything falling into place, into one accord.

Hygge is our awareness of the scale of our existence in contrast to the immensity of life. It is our sense of intimacy and encounter with each other and with the creaturely world around us. It is the presence of nature calling us back to the present moment, calling us home.

Hygge relates to social awareness, ways of communicating and ways of thinking about others. When we hygger, we acknowledge each other's traits and foibles without indulging them.