Anne will give an illustrated talk about Hygge and Happiness, drawing on Meik Wiking’s “The Little Book of Hygge” and her own recent book, “Happier Longevity,” by Anne Ipsen and Tami Muller.

Hygge has been described as the cozy feeling of curling up with a good book, spending time with loved ones, or sharing food with your closest friends. It is about savoring the simple pleasures of everyday life. It is a familiar concept to Danes and Norwegians but is related to similar cultural concepts in Sweden and Finland. In short, it is one explanation for why Nordic people vie for first and second place as the happiest people on earth.

So, how do we become happier? Although Anne’s book was written for seniors like herself, including their families and caregivers, much of the material applies to people of any age. It is based on scientific research and the SPIRE happiness framework by Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar and his Happiness Institute. The talk will combine these two concepts and explain how hygge and the SPIRE framework can contribute to a happier life.

Saturday, October 24th | 1pm | free with registration*
*donations to support free programming are welcome and can be given via Eventbrite

Dr. Ipsen was born in Denmark but emigrated to the USA with her parents in 1949 and grew up in Cambridge. She graduated from Radcliffe College and received a PhD in Statistics from Harvard University.

She has been a writer for over thirty-five years, having published ten books, including two memoirs and five historical novels. Her first memoir, “A Child’s Tapestry of War, Denmark 1940-45,” and the historical novel “Karen from the Mill,” were written while she was a Professor of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, where she taught, published technical papers, and collaborated on medical research. After leaving academia to pursue writing full-time, she and her husband moved back to the Boston area in 2005.

Anne walks the talk. At ninety-one years of age, she continues to write, give talks, and actively participate in her independent living community in Wellesley. She is widowed and has two adult children and five grandchildren.