Finished reading: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Alborn.
This is truly an amazing book. It is one of the best books I have ever read. It is the first book ever in my life that has made me cry. It is a very enlightening and heart touching book. I hear the message loud and clear and because I read this book while I'm living abroad, the message is amplified and I can fully absorb it.
Below are some of the topics discussed in the book and my favorite quotes. I would love to have a deep conversation about these topics with a close friend/family/soul-mate one day.
-The World
"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and let it come in."-Regrets
"Let it come in. We think we don't deserve love, we think if we let it in we'll become too soft. But a wise man named Levine said it right. He said, 'Love is the only rational act.'"
"We're so wrapped up with egotistical things, 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?"-Death
"Everyone knows they're going to die, but no one believes it. If we did, we would do things differently."-Family
"We're too involved with materialistic things, and they don't satisfy us. The loving relationship we have, the universe around us. we take those things for granted."
"Yes. I look out that window everyday. I notice the changes in the trees, how strong the wind is blowing. It's as if I can see time actually passing through that window-pane."
"If you don't have the support and love and caring and concern that you get from a family, you don't have much at all. Love is so supremely important."-Emotions
"If you hold back on the emotions--if you don't allow yourself to go all the way through them--you can never get to being detached, you're too busy being afraid. You're afraid of the grief. You're afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails."-Fear of aging
"But by throwing yourself into these emotions, by allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your head even, you experience them fully and completely. You know what pain is. You know what love is. You know what grief is. And only you can say, 'All right. I have experienced that emotion. I recognize that emotion. Now I need to detach from my emotion for a moment."
"The truth is, when our mothers held us, rocked us, stroked our heads--none of us ever got enough of that. We all yearn in some way to return to those days when we were completely taken cared of--unconditional love, unconditional attention."-The perfect day
"It's very simple. As you grow, you learn more. If you stayed at twenty-two, you'd always be as ignorant as you were at twenty-two. Aging is not just decay, you know. It's growth. It's more than negative that you're going to die, it's also positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you live a better life because of it."
"When people say, 'oh if I were young again,' it reflects unsatisfied lives. Unfulfilled lives. lives that haven't found meaning. Because if you found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more and do more."
"I'd get up in the morning, do my exercises, have breakfast of sweet rolls and tea, go for a swim, then have my friends come over for a nice lunch. I'd have them come one or two at a time so we could talk about their families, their issues, talk about how much we mean to each other. Then I'd go for a walk, in a garden with some trees, watch colors, watch birds, take in the nature. In the evening, we'd all go together to a restaurant with some great pasta, maybe some duck--and then we'd dance the rest of the night. Then I'd go home and have a deep sleep."-Say good-bye
"There is no such in as 'too late' in life"I think the most precious gift someone can give to anyone is TIME. Therefore, I plan to devote more of my time with the people I love and care about. When I get home, I want to hug a little longer, talk a little longer, smile a little longer, kiss a little longer, appreciate a little more, love a little more, and learn how to explore more of my emotions. And one day I too, want to have a perfect day. Hopefully it'll sooner than later.
