A piece of wisdom from
September 20, 2025 · Saturday
The quote
“Time slowed. The ball moved like it was suspended in glass. I could see the seams of it for the first time.”
— A baseball hitter, age 28 · Flow State
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
Walk one slow block today and observe the lesson of Sisu. The Finnish word for the strength that shows up only when everything is gone.
From the Bhagavad Gita
Verse 12.15
यस्मान्नोद्विजते लोको लोकान्नोद्विजते च यः। हर्षामर्षभयोद्वेगैर्मुक्तो यः स च मे प्रियः॥
“He from whom the world does not shrink, who does not shrink from the world, who is free from joy and envy, fear and agitation — such a person is dear to me.”
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