A piece of wisdom from
June 16, 2025 · Monday
The quote
“Pare down to the essence, but don't remove the poetry. Keep things clean and unencumbered, but don't sterilise.”
— Leonard Koren · 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 7.7
मत्तः परतरं नान्यत्किञ्चिदस्ति धनञ्जय। मयि सर्वमिदं प्रोतं सूत्रे मणिगणा इव॥
“There is nothing higher than I, O Dhananjaya. All this is strung on me as pearls on a thread.”
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