A piece of wisdom from
June 19, 2026 · Friday
The quote
“The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.”
— Pema Chodron · Tonglen
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
When the next difficult feeling arrives, ask yourself: the lesson of The Tao. The way of effortless action, when to stop pushing, when to begin.
From the Bhagavad Gita
Verse 6.5
उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत्। आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः॥
“Lift yourself by yourself; do not let yourself sink. For the self alone is the friend of the self, and the self alone is the enemy of the self.”
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