Denmark was the country which ranked number one happiest country in 2012.
and
here is the 2014's list of happiest countries in the world.
The top happiest country in the world is now Norway.
1. Norway
2. Denmark
3. Sweden
4. Australia
5. New Zealand
6. Canada
7. Finland
8. Netherlands
9. Switzerland
10. Ireland
I was curious about the culture of these countries around Northern Europe which often ranked high.
My image of Sweden is that is a freedom loving country, high taxes, but education and hospitals, medical care, are free.
People sound easy going, not much care for competition.
About Norway, my image is that of a beautiful exotic country, but there is no sun about half the time in a year, so there are many people who get depression and high suicide percentage. So I was wondering why this country often ranked high.
About Denmark, I didn't have an opportunity to hear about the country, so I knew nothing about Denmark.
and so when I checked about Denmark, it's also similar to Sweden, where people need to pay high taxes, but education and hospitals, medical care are free. also if one lost a job, the unemployment can get 90 % of the income they were earning when they were employed 4 years.
For people's cultural habits, it was interesting to read about that Denmark people really value fairness.
For example,
if a teacher tells his students to be the best, many students immediately claimed that they don't think it's good idea to use the word " the best " because it makes winners and losers.
They said they don't like the word " The best " because it makes them feel stressful.
They like the word " enough". They don't want to be the best.
According to a Japanese writer who has lived in Denmark for a few months, when she was complimenting her classmate with words like you are amazing or something like that over there, her classmate just said " thank you " .
But since she complimented her classmate , their conversation stopped .
She felt something strange feeling like she said something wrong ?
She thought they might not have believed what she said, so she again told her " I meant it." but she didn't understand.
It happened not only once, but with another classmate also , showing same reaction as the other classmate.
So she was wondering and she asked about it to her friend who is from Norway.
Soon her Norway friend understood why they acted like that and told her about
" The law of Jante ".
And I found The law of jante or the who-do-you-think-you-are law at the link below.
and I realized that this belief is related to " All is one " .
The Law of Jante or the Who-do-you-think-you-are law
* You're not to think you are anything special.
* You're not to think you are as good as us.
* You're not to think you are smarter than us.
* You're not to convince yourself that you are better than us.
* You're not to think you know more than us.
* You're not to think you are more important than us.
* You're not to think you are good at anything.
* You're not to laugh at us.
* You're not to think anyone cares about you more than for anyone else.
* You're not to think you can teach us anything.
" The Law of Jante or the Who-do-you-think-you-are law (Danish: Janteloven ; Norwegian: Jantelova or Janteloven; Swedish: Jantelagen) is the idea that there is a pattern of group behaviour towards individuals within Scandinavian communities that negatively portrays and criticises individual success and achievement as unworthy and inappropriate.
The Jante Law as a concept was created by the Dano-Norwegian author Aksel Sandemose, who in his novel A fugitive crosses his tracks (En flyktning krysser sitt spor, 1933, English translation published in the USA in 1936) identified the Law of Jante as ten rules.
Sandemose's novel portrays the small Danish town Jante , where nobody is anonymous.
Generally used colloquially as a sociological term to negatively describe an attitude towards individuality and success common in Sweden[2] and the rest of the Nordic countries, the term refers to a mentality that de-emphasizes individual effort and places all emphasis on the collective, while discouraging those who stand out as achievers. "
Not sure the above translation is correct.
Honestly, I prefer to use positive words rather than " not " , and love to read about something which helps my motivation.
However, I think that to have good healthy friendships / relationships, then I think following The Jante Law can avoid being arrogant and one can have healthy good relationships /friendships.
It may also help to connect to our true self.
Because most people don't like to hear someone's boasting story all day long, and being an audience for them, or feeling like someone is acting like they are above you.
Life is not about competition, but it's about creating your life by being yourself with love.
There are several things I learned through it.
However, I feel having strong ambitious in life and having confidence is important. Just better not to act like one is special, because in actuality, every one is special.
I think serious competition mind can make stressful feeling, so this is one of the reasons the Scandinavian countries are often in top ranking in the world happiest countries.
My impression is that countries which have cultures which are full of competition look always like they are fighting each other and being unhappy.
My husband and I are getting more and more interested in Denmark right now.
We would love to visit there in close future.
photo credit: Mathias Liebing via photopin cc