The ancient Finnish word sisu describes an attitude of courage, resilience, grit, tenacity and perseverance.
This key psychological competence enables extraordinary action in times of adversity.
To have sisu confers a further dimension of doing so with honesty, integrity and humility.
Joanna Nylund was born and raised in Finland, where she started her writing career doing music reviews for a local magazine at age 15.
After studying English literature at university and living in the UK for a few years, she has been working as a translator, journalist, copywriter and photographer. She now lives in Helsinki with her husband.
Joanna’s new book, Sisu, is a comprehensive guide to the Finnish attitude of courage and determination in the face of adversity.
Lagom has no equivalent in the English language but is loosely translated as ‘not too little, not too much, just right’.
Far from restrictive, lagom is a liberating concept, praising the idea that anything more that ‘just enough’ is a waste of time. Crucially it also comes with a selflessness and core belief of responsibility and common good.
By living lagom you can live a happier and more balanced life, reduce your environmental impact, improve your work-life balance, free your home from clutter, enjoy good food the Swedish way, grow your own and learn to forage, and cherish the relationships with those you love.
Linnea Dunne is author of Lagom: The Swedish Art of Balanced Living.
Linnea was born and raised in Sweden, where she started her writing career as a columnist at the local newspaper aged 15. She left for Ireland a few years later and eventually moved to London, where she studied Creative Writing and Political Communications.
She now lives in Dublin with her husband and two half-Swedish kids, trying to achieve that lagom balance against all odds.
For decades Denmark has ranked at the top of the world’s happiness surveys.
How is it that these 5.6 million Danes are so content when they live in a country that is dark and cold nine months of the year and where income taxes are at almost 60 percent?
In Happy as a Dane: 10 Secrets of the Happiest People in the World, Malene shares anecdotes and research, and explores how the values of trust, education, and a healthy work-life balance with purpose – to name just a few – contribute to a “happy” population.
The book became a best-seller and was awarded the prize of the most optimistic book in 2014. It has been published in Japan, Korea,Taiwan and Russia, and will come out later this year in Spain, Germany and United States.
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