Finland is offering free trips to people in need of happiness lessons

[Aeolienne]

Finland is offering free trips to people in need of happiness lessons

By Katherine Martinko

For three days this summer, a local host could show you why their country consistently ranks among the happiest in the world.

For the past two years, Finland has been named the happiest country in the world. Its citizens are relaxed and cheerful, enjoying life in a progressive, technologically advanced society, without becoming overly stressed. The Finns themselves attribute this to their connection with nature and their instinct to go outside whenever anxiety rears its ugly head: "When others go to therapy, Finns put on a pair of rubber boots and head to the woods."

Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? Well, I have some exciting news. You, too, could learn how to live like this, taught firsthand by Finnish 'happiness guides'. A curious project called Rent a Finn, organized by Visit Finland, will send a select number of guests to live in Finnish households for three days this summer, during which they will experience life as the Finns do – and hopefully find their inner calm. All travel and accommodation costs are covered, but you must be willing to be filmed throughout the experience.

As a guest, you will experience "anything from visiting a national park to spending a weekend fishing at a real summer cottage, berry picking in the wilderness, enjoying a proper Finnish sauna – basically all the things that we Finns love to do in nature and what makes Finland the happiest country in the world."

Hosts include Esko, mayor of a small town near the Arctic Circle in Lapland, who will take you boating and teach you to play mölkky, a Finnish throwing game. If you stay with Hanna, an IT professional, you'll travel to her grandmother's lakeside home outside Helsinki, where you'll pick blueberries, eat traditional pastries, and hang out in the sauna. Linda and Niko live on Utö, Finland's southernmost island in the Baltic Sea with a population around 40. They'll take you sailing through the archipelago, show you the lighthouse, and camp out on an islet.

How do you become one of the lucky few? Now is the time to apply by filling out an online application form and filming a 3-minute video describing yourself, your connection to nature, and why you want to visit Finland. Submit, breathe deeply, and wait with your fingers crossed. I know what I'll be doing this weekend...

Source: Treehugger

Closing date: 14 April

 

[BraidedPony]

I’m moving to Finland.

 

[Bolletje]

Brilliant!

 

[the_tortoise]

That's pretty cool!

I would not be keen on being filmed to use in promotional media, though.

 

[Mia]

Have read some references to this in studies of nordic or northern countries. Where the weather controls many aspects of life. Have also met over the years groups of Finns abroad in tropical countries, escaping the cold. They seem no happier as a group, than any others I have met. In fact, in my encounters, people from tropical countries seemed somewhat happier, based on my observations as they interacted among themselves.

The 'happiness' index is based on the cantril ladder survey. Nationally representative samples of respondents are asked to think of a ladder, with the best possible life for them being a 10, and the worst possible life being a 0. They are then asked to rate their own current lives on that 0 to 10 scale. The report correlates the results with various life factors.

In my lifelong study of people, I have noticed various factors that are the opposite. In parts of Canada for example, the areas I have lived in. People indicate that they are happy, yet I perceive them as anxious and stressed. They drive fast, they cut people off, they are impolite in their interactions with others. And yet, they place high in self-reporting that they are happy. I don't perceive it as such, suspect that some people who report they are happy, are actually the opposite. But would like to be happy and indicate that in studies.

A note on Finland: The rate of domestic violence in Finland is almost twice the European average, at 43.5 percent, according to Naisten Linja, a hotline for victims of family violence. Twenty percent of all homicides in Finland are attributed to a woman’s death at the hands of a current or former partner, according to the National Research Institute of Legal Policy. Finland’s paradox of equality: professional excellence, domestic abuse

 

[tducey]

Sounds neat, Finland has always seemed like a nice country to me.

 

[Aspychata]

l lived near Helsinki for one year. It was beautiful, but the language is difficult to learn. l loved the birch trees where l lived. l did sauna, but l didn't roll in the snow post-sauna. The drinking rates and suicide rate is high due to Finland having 6 months of winter snow and vodka. My Finnish hosts made bootleg vodka with potatoes. You could only buy liquor in a state store. But l would go back in a heartbeat, l really enjoyed the people.

 

[Tom]

l lived near Helsinki for one year. It was beautiful, but the language is difficult to learn. l loved the birch trees where l lived. l did sauna, but l didn't roll in the snow post-sauna. The drinking rates and suicide rate is high due to Finland having 6 months of winter snow and vodka. My Finnish hosts made bootleg vodka with potatoes. You could only buy liquor in a state store. But l would go back in a heartbeat, l really enjoyed the people.

In a study of what cured hiccups best, nothing proved consistantly effective but rolling in the snow had the highest statistical rate of success.

 

[Canismajoris]

Are Finns happy? Hell no.

Is Finland a good place to live: yes if you have kids or are not rich.

The taxes are so high, that it is next to impossible to make money with work: the harder you work, the more outrageous taxes are. (But also if you get very sick, healthcare is next to free).

Climate is most of the year just terrible, but that has also an upside: Finns have been forced to generate a society that works.

The best thing in Finland has nothing to do with Finns: nature.

 

[tlc]

The closest I'll get to Finland is an hour north of me. Michigan's UP, over the bridge in my avatar. It is the highest concentration of Finnish ancestry in the USA. It's a very sparse place, but the people I do find are generally friendly, down to earth, relaxed, simple, in touch with nature, and resourceful. With long winters sometimes close to 400 inches of snow, and nearly everything rural, Yoopers make do with the weather and with what they got. I can drive a half hour down a state highway with no cell phone signal. I love going there.