For nine years now, Finland has been confirmed as the happiest country in the world – at least according to World Happiness Reportwhich every year collects the opinions of inhabitants from all over the world regarding well-being and perceived happiness.
The record held by the Northern European country leads more and more people to wonder what the “secret of happiness” jealously guarded by the Finns is, and whether there is something that we too, in our own small way, can do every day to bring more happiness into our lives.
The first secret, observing the lifestyle led by the Finns, is not to try to be happy at all costs: as demonstrated by a study, the more you chase happiness, the less happy you actually are.
Much of the happiness of Finns depends on the perceived levels of well-being and security, on the good quality of life, on the infrastructures that the state makes available to its citizens – but there is more.
Culture and values also play a key role in how you deal with life and the unexpected events that happen – and the dear Finns seem to be masters of this.
Here are some proverbs and mottos relating to happiness on which the Finns base their existence, which we too can introduce into our lives to make it happier.
Whoever has happiness should hide it
This motto by the Finnish poet Eino Leino (1878-1926) suggests that we avoid dramatic displays of success and wealth – which everyone in Finland does.
In the country, in fact, it is rare to find expensive cars parked in the streets, or to see people wearing designer clothes costing hundreds of euros.
Even in the wealthiest neighborhoods of cities, wealthy people tend to drive small cars and wear clothes that aren’t terribly expensive.
But what is the meaning of this? Constant comparison with others – whether for economic, cultural or work reasons – always generates unhappiness and a sense of inadequacy.
This is why having a lifestyle marked by moderation and sobriety, regardless of one’s real economic possibilities, contributes to one’s own happiness and that of others.
The pessimist will never be disappointed
A version of this old Finnish saying also exists in Italian: “You are never wrong when you think badly”. We might think that this pessimistic view of life takes us away from achieving happiness – but in reality it is exactly the opposite.
Our unhappiness derives, in fact, from the discrepancy between the life we imagine and the life that actually happens to us: we would like things to go in a certain way, and we are unhappy when this doesn’t happen.
We would like the people around us to behave according to our way of thinking, and we are disappointed when we see that they make choices that are in opposition to our way of seeing life.
In other words, we have high expectations of events and people – expectations that are regularly disappointed because life never goes according to our plans (fortunately!).
If, on the contrary, we accept difficulties and problems as an inevitable part of our being in the world, focusing on what is still within our possibilities and which can be improved, our level of happiness will increase considerably.
In short, let’s prepare for the worst, so that we can welcome whatever life offers us with open arms.
Everyone is the blacksmith of their own happiness
This motto has its roots in the fatalism of ancient Rome, when everyone was considered responsible and creator of their own destiny (Faber est suae quisque fortunatee), and reminds us that we must strive every day to forge our happiness.
Instead of passively waiting for something to happen, for the ideal conditions for our well-being and happiness to manifest themselves, let us commit ourselves concretely so that our success manifests itself, so that our goals are realized.
We ourselves provoke the events that can lead us to happiness, taking on our responsibilities and becoming protagonists of our lives.
Some have happiness, everyone has summer
The last motto that we suggest in this article still concerns the co-presence, within our existence, of events that we can control and others that are beyond our control, over which we must not be distressed.
While there are many aspects of our lives that we can influence or change, there are also many things that we simply cannot control and about which there is no point in worrying or getting angry.
There is no point in envying those who are happy at the moment, while we are experiencing a difficult time. If today we experience a moment of pain, we can always count on one thing: sooner or later summer will come for all of us.
Why Italy is not Finland (and why it is not a problem)
Comparing Italy with Finland in terms of happiness risks being misleading. The two countries start from profoundly different conditions: welfare structure, trust in institutions, distribution of wealth, but also climate, geography and daily habits. In Finland the quality of life is supported by a system that reduces uncertainty, while in Italy the complexity – economic and social – is much higher.
Yet this does not mean being “less capable” of being happy. Rather, it means that happiness is built in different ways. In Italy the relational dimension, the family, widespread sociality weighs more; in Finland autonomy, stability and collective trust matter more. There is no universal model to replicate, but contexts that profoundly influence the way we perceive well-being.
What we can really copy (and what not)
The most common mistake is to think that you can import Finnish happiness like a recipe. In reality, what works there is not always transferable elsewhere. We cannot replicate in a few years a welfare system or a level of social trust built over decades. Likewise, we cannot imitate a lifestyle that also arises from very specific climatic and cultural conditions.
What we can do instead is observe some basic attitudes: sobriety in consumption, less obsession with social comparison, the ability to accept uncertainty without transforming it into constant anxiety. They are adaptable elements, which do not require us to change country but to modify, at least in part, our daily approach. More than copying, it’s about filtering and translating.
Happiness vs well-being: they are not the same thing
When we talk about the “happiest countries in the world”, there is often confusion between happiness and well-being. The World Happiness Report does not simply measure how cheerful or satisfied people feel in the short term, but takes into account structural factors such as economic security, public services, social support and individual freedom.
Happiness, understood as an emotion, is by its nature unstable and intermittent. Well-being, on the other hand, is a broader and more lasting condition, which creates the basis for happiness to emerge with greater continuity. In this sense, Finland is not so much the “happiest” country as one of those in which it is easier to live without a constant load of stress, precariousness and mistrust. And perhaps this is the difference that really matters.
