Two New Words

I spent some time over the weekend reading my Spirituality and Health magazine and I learned a couple of new words that I really like. The first word is a Finnish word called sisu. The word was invented in 1939, at a time when tiny Finland was able to hold off an invasion by the Soviets during a particularly frigid winter. Sisu means the ability to push your limits (mentally, physically and spiritually) further than you ever knew possible. It stands for pure grit, and by the time we reach middle age, all of us can look back on at least one or two “Incredible Hulk” moments in our lives, when our sisu kicked in. It is a good reminder to ourselves to remember deep within all of us lies the treasure of our indomitable sisu.

The second word is freudenfreude which means taking vicarious delight in someone else’s good fortune. Most of us have heard of (and maybe even felt some shame for feeling) schadenfreude which means feeling some joy for someone else’s misfortune. I think that it’s sad that freudenfreude isn’t as commonly known a word as schadenfreude. I know that freudenfreude is frequently felt. I didn’t care who won the Super Bowl this year, but I was gleeful for the thrilled players and fans of Kansas City. I can’t help but feel freudenfreude whenever I see a delighted child, or a dog whose tail is going one hundred miles a minute. Perhaps the rest of this week, we should make it a point of feeling freudenfreude whenever we can. We should seek freudenfreude out. In my experience, I feel the greatest freudenfreude for underdogs who have gone all out with their sisu, and end up being victorious. That’s the best freudenfreude of all!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.