A piece of wisdom from
December 7, 2025 · Sunday
The quote
“Grind culture is a lie. Productivity is not your worth. You are not a machine. You were not made to be one.”
— Tricia Hersey · Burnout
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
When the next difficult feeling arrives, ask yourself: the lesson of Sisu. The Finnish word for the strength that shows up only when everything is gone.
From the Bhagavad Gita
Verse 16.21
त्रिविधं नरकस्येदं द्वारं नाशनमात्मनः। कामः क्रोधस्तथा लोभस्तस्मादेतत्त्रयं त्यजेत्॥
“Three are the gates of this hell, destructive of the self — lust, anger, and greed. Therefore, abandon these three.”
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