Who Needs Hygge When You Can Just Live Like Your Cat? Here's How.

© Illustration by Tischenko/Getty Images

By Sarah Schmelling, Real Simple

Maybe the secret to happiness isn't coming from Denmark. It's right at your feet, shedding on your slippers.

[post_ads]You’ve tried to achieve hygge like the Danes, to find what “sparks joy” with the Japanese art of decluttering, and to parent your bébés like the French. But why keep turning to other cultures for tips on how to live when there’s a guide closer to home? Try living the Feline Way! Enjoy your life more by looking to your cat for inspiration (just not directly at your cat, because that will really freak him out).

Home Maintenance

Clutter: It’s everywhere! But that won’t matter to you from now on. With the Feline Way, you can just ignore everything around your house most of the day, then, when everyone else is trying to watch a crucial scene in their favorite show, race around at high speed knocking down stacks of magazines and rolling around on them. Attack shoes like they’ve given you a grave insult. Somehow wrap your entire body in the cord for the window blinds, then run away with the string still attached to you and yank the blinds from the frame. Don’t bother to clean up anything behind you.

Time Management

Life is short. You need to make the most of it—not waste time “picking out clothes” or “wondering where that bouncing red light on the wall is coming from and why all the people in the room are laughing at you.” Don’t plan anything. Stop to take a bath mid-conversation. Depend on others to prepare and serve your food. When you’ve finished a meal, immediately forget you’ve eaten and ask for more.

Attitude

Some people choose a mantra to live by and let everyone know about it. But you revel in mystery, in keeping others on their toes (sometimes literally, because you “accidentally” try to trip them). How to stay mysterious? Stare at your loved ones ominously, then walk away without saying anything. Find the person in the room who wants nothing to do with you and promptly sit on her lap. If you suddenly want to go outside even though you’ve never gone outside before, just stand in front of the door screaming like you’re outraged that no one has opened the door for you yet.

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Relaxation

Your new way of life won’t be complete till you remember to embrace exactly who you are. Turn your ears backward just because you can. Have no fear of vacuum cleaners, but become inexplicably terrified when someone holds an orange jacket. If somebody gives you a present they think you’ll love, ignore it and then get really excited about a roll of tape. Make your own schedule. Don’t overthink things. And when the world becomes too much, go walk around in some spilled apple juice, find the lovely black skirt someone laid out for a dinner party, and take a nap on it for 7 to 16 hours.