A piece of wisdom from
December 5, 2025 · Friday
The quote
“A friend asked me what I do for fun. I could not answer. I had not done anything for fun in years. That moment was the diagnosis I had been refusing.”
— attributed · 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
Try this once today: the lesson of The Tao. The way of effortless action, when to stop pushing, when to begin.
From the Bhagavad Gita
Verse 3.35
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात्। स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः॥
“Better one's own dharma, even though imperfectly performed, than the dharma of another well performed. Better death in one's own dharma; the dharma of another is fraught with fear.”
A small piece of wisdom in your inbox each morning
One quote, one concept, one practice, same as this page, delivered before your day starts. Free, no spam, one-click unsubscribe.