Morrie thoughts

Note: I have started writing this some time back - just never got to finish it till now. I honestly tore through this book in less than 24 hours.

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With my recent encounters and experiences... I have quite a lot in my mind..

While packing LS's stuff yesterday, I came across this book - Tuesdays with Morrie. I started flipping through it casually - not intending to read it - but the book captured me so much - I devoured it and finished it this morning.

Here are my after thoughts:
- "Love each other or perish": this is what Morrie lived by. This is one thing I wish to add and add more in my life. I want to add more dosages of love to the world. :)

- "Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too - even when you're in the dark. Even when you're falling."
I experienced this quite literally during Christmas period and I did my very first night dive in the great barrier reef. We had to navigate - me and my buddy, in the dark waters - without being able to see anything, guided by my compass and my buddy.

I think - this is the mentality we should be adopting towards love.

Cause - after all - if you don't trust, it's not love.

- 'What if today were my last day on earth?'

"Mitch," he said, "the culture doesn't encourage you to think about such things until you're about to die. We're so wrapped up with egotistical thungs, career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks - we're involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don't get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this all? Is this all I want? Is something missing?"

I need to remind myself to give thoughts to this. I need to set time aside for this - I do not wish to be caught up in the race and forget about this.

And also after reading Morrie's dying experience.. It was hard to put down this book partly because of how Morrie reminds me of ls.. Ls lived his life to the fullest, he was always full of love and generosity. Ls is the Morrie of my heart. And I can relate to Mitch's experience of interacting with Morrie - and little details that I
notice of ls.. Oh well..

I have always thought that I wanted a painless quick death. I did not want suffering.

But now, I think I would prefer to have time to die or to prep myself for dying. I want a chance to say a proper goodbye.

I want to have a pre-funeral funeral.

Ok. Enough of the funeral thoughts.

- "Once you learn how to live, you learn how to die"

- "Wherever I went in my life, I met people wanting to gobble up something new. Gobble up a new car. ....

You know how I always interpreted that? These were people so hungry for love that they were accepting substitutes. They were embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But it never works.
You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship.

Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness.

- "finding a meaningful life.....Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."

-"Mitch, if you're trying to show off for people at the top, forget it. They will look down at you anyhow. And if you're trying to show off for people at the bottom, forgetit. They will envy you. Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone."

- "There are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: If you don't respect the other person, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can't talk openly about what goes on between you, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don't have a common set of values in life, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike.

'And the biggest one of those values, Mitch?'

'Your belief in the importance of your marriage."


- "In the beginning of life, when we are infants, we need others to survive, right? And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right?

....But here's the secret: in between, we need others as well."

- "..he wanted to die with serenity....
'Don't let go too soon, but don't hang on too long.'"

- "Be compassionate.... And take responsibility for each other. If we only learned those lessons, this world would be so much better a place."