Often comes a point when a thing becomes too much
Often comes a point when a thing becomes too much and we seek comfort in all kinds of things.It might be your favourite blanket or when that final slice of pizza takes you from being comfortably full to a groaning misery, or when the karaoke in the car goes from being fun to a throat aching chore. Too much of almost anything is bad, even the good things in life.
This is ancient wisdom is found in the Vedas, in Plato’s Greece and in most religions throughout time, but in the Swedish concept of lagom, it’s given a new life. Lagom translates as just the right amount, and it comes in knowing when enough is enough, and trying to find balance rather than constantly grasping for more.
Lagom is that feeling of contentment
Lagom is that feeling of contentment we all get when we have what we need to make us comfortable. It means having a roof over your head, food in your belly, friends at your back, and money, just enough money in your pockets.
There are two aspects to lag on. The first is a kind of social awareness, which acts as a fair usage policy if you spend all of your time grabbing and hoarding everything you can and pushing yourself to the front of the cube. And at best, that makes you an arse. At worst, it leaves others in ruin, and the second is a kind of mental shift, which comes from finding contentment in satisfaction.
Many of us have internalized the ideas that bigger means better. Lagom, though, is to enjoy the just right? It’s a bit more than saying enjoy the simple things. It means appreciating that sometimes less is more.
Enjoying what you have doesn’t mean you need more of it. Lagom is to recognise that sometimes satisfaction is all you need to be happy you.
What are the Vedas?
The Vedas are a collection of ancient religious texts from India that are considered the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. They are Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, and the Atharvaveda and written in veda sanskrit.
Who was Plato?
Plato, was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms. Plato was known for his work called the Republic ( la Republica), which details a wise society run by a philosopher.
What is lagom?
Lagom is that feeling of contentment. Lagom is a Swedish word meaning ‘just the right amount’ or ‘not too much, not too little’, ergo it is ‘just enough’.
