A piece of wisdom from
February 24, 2025 · Monday
The quote
“All things are impermanent, all things are imperfect, and all things are incomplete. Three simple realities — and wabi-sabi is the grace of living inside them rather than against them.”
— Richard Powell · Wabi-Sabi
The concept
Sisu
The Finnish word for the strength that shows up only when everything is gone.
Two hundred days of darkness a year. Forty below in winter. Russia next door. The Finns had to invent a word for the strength that shows up only when everything is gone, and they named it sisu. Sisu is not grit. Not resilience. Not courage.…
A practice for today
Before bed tonight, name one thing where the lesson of Sisu. The Finnish word for the strength that shows up only when everything is gone.
From the Bhagavad Gita
Verse 9.26
पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छति। तदहं भक्त्युपहृतमश्नामि प्रयतात्मनः॥
“Whoever offers me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water — that, the offering of the pure-hearted, I accept.”
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