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I've lived in the Netherlands for 14 years—why we're always ranked one of the world's happiest countries (www.cnbc.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I was born in Poland and grew up in Germany, but my family and I have been living in the Netherlands for the last 14 years.

When I first discovered the concept of "niksen," or the Dutch art of doing nothing, I was fascinated. I even wrote a book about it. When I applied it to my own life, my perspective about happiness shifted in a significant way.

I believe niksen is one of the reasons why the Dutch are consistently ranked as some of the happiest people in the world. Niksen might seem selfish or boring at first glance, but it's actually a service to you and your community.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

"Lagom" means "just enough", and has more to do with not taking more than you need, and I believe it being strongly correlated with the cultural "jante lagen" (="thou shall live and act as a humble human."). Niksen and lagom doesn't seem to have any similarities beyond that.