{"id":489,"date":"2019-12-04T14:12:17","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T12:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/?p=489"},"modified":"2019-12-04T14:13:18","modified_gmt":"2019-12-04T12:13:18","slug":"light-in-the-darkness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/2019\/12\/04\/light-in-the-darkness\/","title":{"rendered":"Light in the darkness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s that time of the year\nI look out of the window and wonder what time of the day it is. When it\u2019s dark\nwhen I wake up and dark when I go home. When I wish it was dark when it is not\nbecause the landscape looks so grey, dull, and barren. No, I am not a person\nenjoying late autumn in Finland (quite frankly, I know of no one who would do\nthat, but please correct me if you are, would love to hear some tips about how\nto enjoy this crappy time of the year). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Since it\u2019s unlikely I\ncan change the darkness around us, I want to share some thoughts about making\nlife worth living this time of the year, i.e. looking forward rather than being\nmentally stuck on how horrible the weather is (again) \u2013 that is preparing for\nChristmas! I love it when I can put up decorations, listen to Christmas carols,\nwrap presents, write Christmas cards and enjoy the outdoor lights in Helsinki.\nNot to forget having a hefty dose of mulled wine and gingerbreads!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One aspect I speculate\nmight lie behind my enjoyment is the self-created looking forward to the\nexperience to come. The more one engages in preparations, the more likely one is\nto focus on the process rather than the swiftly passing moment of Christmas Eve\nand Day. Studies have in fact shown that people who put up their Christmas\ndecorations early on are in general happier (*), that people who put up\nChristmas decorations may intend to communicate to others that they are\nsociable and nice, and that people in fact consider these people as more\namiable (Werner et al. 1989). Wonder whether there are any studies shedding\nlight on how people who listen to Christmas music in October are perceived? Or\nstart buying presents in January (I am an expert in this\u2026)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what if you don\u2019t\nhave the time, energy or money to engage in the deliberated waiting, how can you\nget the most out of Christmas? One study reported that being with family and involving\nreligious elements was positively related to happiness, whereas material\naspects such as spending money and receiving gifts had a negative correlation with\nhappiness, if they were predominant. Environmentally healthier behaviors were\nlikewise linked to higher satisfaction. (Kasser and Sheldon, 2002).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Christmas is\noften portrayed as a feast of consumption (Clarke, 2007), and gift-giving is\noften portrayed as a central activity, giving does not, at least if it involves\noverspending, influence well-being \u2013 rather it causes stress. Hence, Christmas\nshould be about family, searching for meaning and togetherness. These findings\nare in line with the suggestion that people should invest in experiences rather\nthan material things, since the warm glow of experiences will make us happier\nafterwards (See Hell\u00e9n and Gummerus, 2013). This also means that giving could\nperhaps take the form of doing things for others rather than simply purchasing\nstuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So – If Christmas (or\nany other official holiday for that matter) has been the worst time of your\nlife, you are all alone, or you are not the smallest bit of religious, what to\ndo then? Be kind to yourself and create your own rituals that bring joy to you.\nCreate your own unique experiences like taking a midnight walk (remember a torch,\nreflectors and sturdy boots) to celebrate life. I am sure you just might have a\nfair chance of glimpsing a brownie\u2019s cap, even in the rain! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johanna Gummerus<\/a><\/em>
Liikesivistysrahasto Associate Professor in Marketing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

* https:\/\/www.standard.co.uk\/lifestyle\/london-life\/putting-christmas-decorations-up-early-makes-you-happier-a3696431.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarke, P. (2007). A measure for Christmas spirit. Journal of\nConsumer Marketing<\/em>, Vol. 24(1), pp. 8-17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hell\u00e9n, K., & Gummerus, J. (2013). Re-investigating the nature of\ntangibility\/intangibility and its influence on consumer experiences. Journal\nof Service Management<\/em>, 24(2), 130-150.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kasser, T., & Sheldon, K. M. (2002). What makes for a merry\nChristmas? Journal of Happiness Studies<\/em>, 3<\/em>(4), 313-329.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Werner C. M., Peterson-Lewis, S. and Brown, B. B. (1989). Inferences about homeowners’ sociability: Impact of christmas decorations and other cues.  Journal of Environmental Psychology, <\/em>9(4), 279-296.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image: Unsplash<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s that time of the year I look out of the window and wonder what time of the day it is. When it\u2019s dark when I wake up and dark when I go home. When I wish it was dark when it is not because the landscape looks so grey, dull, and barren. No, I …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17,20,18,19],"class_list":["post-489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cers-blog","tag-christmas","tag-consumption","tag-darkness","tag-happiness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":492,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions\/492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}