Sisu -- transforming barriers into frontiers | Emilia Lahti | TEDxTurku

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.
Emilia Lahti is a researcher whose work revolves around understanding how individuals summon strength in the face of extreme adversity and come out of hardships with a newly discovered sense of purpose and adaptability.

Hi everyone. I'm so exciting to be here.

My name is Emilia Lahti
and I'm a researcher.

Some really smart person once said

that research is often,
in fact, me-search.

We tend to get interested in things

which are of some personal significance
to us, and I'm no exception.

What I will share with you
today is a discovery

that has impacted my life
and thinking in a really profound way,

and it originates from a trauma
that I survived to, a few years ago.

As a result of these experiences,

I became very interested to understand

how humans persevere
in the face of extreme adversity,

and how do we keep on going

when we feel that we've reached
the end of our capacities.

I'm sure we can all think
of some people like that from our lives.

Here's one person like that,
whose story I would like to briefly share.

Her name is Kati Lepistö van der Hoeven,

and she may look like
a completely ordinary woman to you

- well, excluding the fact

that she looks like some ethereal goddess
of Lapland in this photo -

but, the truth be told, Kati's life
is a beautiful ode to human resilience.

20 years ago, she experienced
a massive brain stroke,

which left her locked
inside her physical body.

Today Kati is able to communicate

through using eye movements
and an alphabetical board.

For Kati, everyday of her life
is a beautiful example

of how humans push through adversities,

and an example of how
you have to imagine realities

beyond the current reality that you see.

I'm so happy to share Kati's story
because it's a beautiful Segway

to what I will share with you next.

To be her requires something
more than just resilience,

which means to bounce back
from adversities,

or perseverance, which means
to strive for a long term goal.

To be Kati requires something

that we have in Finland
for centuries, known as "sisu."

"Sisu" is something

that we pretty much learn
before we learn to talk or walk.

"Sisu" means to be able to strive
over extraordinary difficulties,

and it means to be able to have
extraordinary determination and courage

in the face of extreme adversity.

It means you don't see a silver lining,

but you jump into the storm anyways.

In the core of "sisu"
is this beautiful idea

that there is much more to us

than what meets the eye
at a given moment.

The thing here is
that even though "sisu"

is so deeply integrated
into Finnish culture,

it's something that bears
significance to you

if you are a human living
anywhere in the world.

We all face adversities,

and we all have to strive
through them somehow.

"Sisu" is really embodied

by those who hold on to hope
anywhere in the world.

That is something that is
one of my greatest passions

to talk more about that.

The thing with "sisu" is

that it doesn't have
a direct translation in any language.

So it's not merely the Finnish equivalent
for willpower or perseverance,

but is something more than that.

In the Finnish culture,

"sisu" is often seen
as this mindset or a life philosophy.

You can associate things
such as integrity and honesty to "sisu."

We have some words which technically
could have become the word for "sisu,"

and here is one which is
'periksi, ' 'anta, ' 'matto, '

and there is more,
'periksiantamattomuus.'

For someone who is not Finnish,

it may take a little bit
of "sisu" to even say that.

"Sisu" has been a big part
of our culture for a long time,

and we haven't been able to necessarily
explain what it is in its core.

I became interested in this.

One thing that you will definitely find

if you Google "sisu," is Finns
during the Winter war,

and how we were against
this massive opponent,

and we prevailed against
all possible expectations.

This event raised "sisu"

to this almost sacred status
in Finland for generations to come.

The New York Times,
back in 1940 wrote:

that "Sisu is the word
that describes Finland,"

which is really powerful.

But at the same time,

even though "sisu" has been
such an integral part of our country,

I wasn't able to find an answer

to whether "sisu" is some kind
of a character trait, is it a tendency,

is it just a myth,

or maybe it's some genetic mutation
of people who have to endure

almost a lifetime without sunlight?

I don't know.

I became interested,

because some happenings in in our life

always involve
a little bit of serendipity.

In 2012, I happened to
meet this wonderful woman

called Angela Duckworth,

who's a research psychologist
at the University of Pennsylvania.

I actually crashed Angela's course
one wintry February morning,

where she was talking about
her research on grit,

which stands for passion
and perseverance for a long term goal.

I became interested in seeing

whether "sisu" and grit somehow overlap,
or maybe we can learn something.

I sent Angela an email
with one simple question asking,

"Have you ever heard of "sisu"?"

Angela being Angela,
of course she had heard of "sisu."

She affirmed my intuition

that "sisu" is something
worth examining at its own right.

I think that was the first push
to start my own journey

into the land of "sisu"
as a research subject.

As a result of this, I started looking
into other kinds of ideas

maybe little bit outside the usual scope.

Then I ran into

this 19th century philosopher
called William James,

who was saying that we don't know
enough about the human spirit,

and he was saying
that we would need to create something

like a topography of human spirit
or human strength,

which for someone unlike William,
who went to Harvard at the age of 12,

so to put that in plain language:

to get some kind of an understanding
of this map of how do we endure

significant adversities in our lives.

Because if we understand that
maybe we are better able to understand

human life and maybe help each other.

William James also said

that we rarely run far enough,
or push ourselves enough,

to realize that we have
what he called "a second wind."

Like there is this extra power tank

or something that gets ignited
when we run far enough,

and it's something that only activates
when we really need it.

This brought "sisu" to my mind
and I was really excited to see

whether understanding
"sisu" a bit better could maybe add

a little piece to this puzzle
of this beautiful human experience,

and maybe we could learn
something through this.

In 2012, I conducted a survey,

and I wanted to understand
the deepest essence of "sisu"

like what is it really all about.

One of the main findings
about "sisu" was this idea

that it is some kind
of a extraordinary ability for action

when you feel that you've reached

the end of your physical
or mental abilities.

So it's more more about that
than maybe striving for a long-term goal.

At the same time,
the thing that rose up was

that "sisu" also seems
to render itself different

from these other psychological
capacities that we have.

For example, resilience refers
to the dynamic process

of positive adaptation
to a difficult situation.

In the core of resilience
is this idea to bounce back

start anew, get your head back
above the surface.

I was thinking that "sisu" is more like

something that acts as a pathway to this.

Before you get head back
above the surface,

you need to sometimes fight

some really strong
undercurrents to get there,

and "sisu" is something
that helps us fight first,

and then we can continue
from where we left it.

Perseverance is striving for
a long-term goal and not giving up

even though you have
obstacles along the way,

so you have your eyes fixed
on something.

Grit that Angela researches
is perseverance

infused with zest and passion.

With "sisu" it's not
so much about passion.

"Sisu" is really about
when you are in that place

where you feel
that there is nowhere to go,

when you've reached the end
of every possible single capacity,

or you might be at the wrong place.

You're too short, too slow, something,

and even people around you are saying

you shouldn't go there;
you are not up for it.

"Sisu" is that something
that pushes us beyond the boundaries.

In short, you could say

that "sisu" is more about
the short term intensity in that moment,

and not so much about
the long-term stamina;

This is this a very important distinction.

At the same time
when it's this power capacity,

it also seems to give rise to
what I call 'an action mindset.'

An action mindset is this consistent,
courageous approach toward challenges.

It's so beautiful to think
that if this represents

your opportunities and the limitations
of the current moment,

there is something that evokes
this vision of you in the future

where you might be able to go
if you dare to reach.

There is something
that elicits hope in "sisu"

what is one of the most exciting things
to me about this construct, honestly.

But at the same time,
as you can see from my slide,

it's kind of scattered around.

I was trying to find a way
to describe "sisu" in a way

that would pull everything together

because it seems to be so multilayered
and so nuanced, and so extraordinary.

One evening when I was watching Cosmos,

I started thinking that maybe,

the solution to this is
right in front of my eyes.

I thought of the carbon atom

and how carbon is this unique,
otherworldly amazing atom

because it's the only thing
that's able to bond

with up to four atoms
at the same time and with itself.

In that way, it creates a system

which enables
the bigger entity to function.

If you look at this molecular diagram
you can see that maybe,

"sisu" is like the carbon atom
would be in this diagram.

Something that is this life-enabling agent
or creative power.

Something that helps build a bridge
between this moment and the next one.

I think that's one of the core ideas,

and why I feel like "sisu"
could be something that could help us

see we could use that
in the future to empower people.

The thing is "sisu" is nothing new to you

if you've encountered
adversities in your life.

It's just that you might have not
had a word for it.

We could say that future is first an idea,
or it's a story that we tell each other,

so as long as we don't have a word
for some phenomena or a construct,

we sometimes fail to tap
into its potential that it withholds.

We are a sense-making species,

we try to understand the events
in our lives through these constructs,

and we pass on knowledge
through using the stories;

and we also learn
and find meaning in our lives

through reflecting on these stories.

I found "sisu" through
this similar self-reflective process,

I found "sisu" through my struggle.

What I am doing today...
All began as this one woman's quest

to make some sense of what had happened

and how she somehow survived.

After a while I realized

that whatever I was doing
in trying to figure my own shit out,

was actually helping
other people as well.

That was a wonderful discovery,

how you can see people come together
when we inspire each other,

because we are all in this together.

As a result of that, I quit my job
- which I had for a very long time -

and I went back to school
and study psychology,

which always was my first love.

I wanted to see what
we could possibly do with this thing.

Today, this "sisu"
and the topics around it

is really the reason
why I wake up each morning.

With my amazing team
at Filosofian Akatemia,

we are really excited
to bring "sisu" to the world

because there is so much
amazing potential in it.

Next year will be
'the Year of Sisu' globally,

and February 28th
will be the 'Day of Sisu' in Finland,

which actually is already
in our calendars;

if you check you will find it.

The reason why we are doing this is

because we are share collectively
adversities, we all encounter them.

What we also share is
this amazing ability to overcome them.

That's in the core of this idea
of the 'Year of Sisu, '

to inspire people to transform
those barriers into frontiers,

and more importantly,
to support each other in this process,

to see that the strength within them

is stronger than the adversities
that we often encounter.

Since "sisu" is such a powerful thing

it's important to remind
that we shouldn't be fooled to think

that it's the only thing
we need, and "sisu" alone.

Just push hard; that's it.

To answer the question what enabled me

to go through my own experiences
was definitely yes, I had "sisu"!

I kept on showing up for life,
and I didn't give up,

although I felt like doing so many times.

But there is one thing
which just cannot be left unsaid,

and it's that I had someone

who believed in me
before I believed in myself,

and who saw this angel in that raw piece
of marble before I saw it,

and who also stuck around
long enough to discover it.

That person is my best friend
and now husband.

We have an immense power
to open doors for each other

and also close them.

Through our actions, through
our gestures, through our words.

I believe that when "sisu,"

this inner amazing,
beautiful power that we have,

when that is met with social support,
compassion, and love,

there are very few things
that are impossible to us.

This sculpture here is
one of my favorite ones.

It was created to celebrate
triumph over a massive sea battle.

It depicts the goddess Nike,
"Nike" meaning victory.

She is over 2,5 meters tall
and 2,000 years old.

One of the most beautiful,
moving things about this sculpture for me,

and why it is my favorite,

is that, despite this significant damage
and incompleteness

this sculpture is one of the most
celebrated and valued masterpieces

of our human history.

And I believe

that's something that we can transport
to our daily lives.

How, if we see each other,

despite some imperfections, some bumps,

but with that potential and beauty,

maybe we can help create a world

where we are able to heal,
and flourish, and exceed ourselves.

I strongly believe that there is so much
more to us than what meets the eye,

and I'm not just talking
about carbon atoms,

but I'm talking about this other kind
of life-giving ingredient called "sisu."

I believe that if we acknowledge
and we celebrate

this amazing potential within all of us,

this universal potential

which goes beyond cultural boundaries
and geographical boundaries,

if we include "sisu" in our collective
conversation of our future,

maybe, not only are we able
to empower individuals here and there

but perhaps, we are able to bring
this human family a bit closer together.

That, I believe, is an idea worth sharing.

Thank you.

(Applause)