A piece of wisdom from
December 19, 2023 · Tuesday
The quote
“Burnout was added to the WHO's International Classification of Diseases in 2019. It is now formally a syndrome — three specific symptoms — not just a feeling.”
— World Health Organisation · Burnout
The concept
The Tao
The way of effortless action, when to stop pushing, when to begin.
Two thousand five hundred years before "burnout" became a word, Lao Tzu was writing about the cost of forcing. The Tao Te Ching, 81 short verses, is the most translated text in human history after the Bible, and the cleanest counter to mode…
A practice for today
When the next difficult feeling arrives, ask yourself: the lesson of The Tao. The way of effortless action, when to stop pushing, when to begin.
From the Bhagavad Gita
Verse 2.47
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन। मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥
“Your right is to the work itself, never to its fruits. Do not let the fruits of action be your motive, and do not be attached to inaction.”
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