A piece of wisdom from
August 2, 2021 · Monday
The quote
“The first thing I do in the morning is decide that I will get up. The rest follows.”
— A 101-year-old Loma Linda Adventist · Longevity
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 2.56
दुःखेष्वनुद्विग्नमनाः सुखेषु विगतस्पृहः। वीतरागभयक्रोधः स्थितधीर्मुनिरुच्यते॥
“He whose mind is undisturbed in sorrow, who craves no pleasure, and from whom attachment, fear, and anger have departed — he is called a sage of steady wisdom.”
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