 |
i had finished my book from a trilogy i'm reading, was waiting for a new book i ordered in the mail to arrive and thought, "i need a short quick read to get me through til my book arrives." well, a huge thank you to my brother in law, cam, for giving this book to me a couple years ago. i just finished it the other day and absolutely loved it.
after reading it i felt completely uplifted and determined to be a better person. it was great. i wanted to share a few thoughts from dear morrie that i enjoyed.
{this might include long passages from the book...but it's oh so good that i can't paraphrase it myself}
our society and culture is so obsessed with being young, and the fear of growing old. i will admit, i've thought of this a couple times myself....how getting old just does not sound pleasant to me.
well morrie addresses this issue like this:
{he's speaking to his former student, mitch}
Weren't you ever afraid to grow old, i asked?
"Mitch, I embrace aging."
Embrace it?
"it's very simple. as you grow, you learn more. if you stayed at 22, you'd always be as ignorant as you were at 22. aging is not just decay, you know. it's growth. it's more than the negative that you're going to die, it's also the positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you live a better life because of it."
Yes, i said, but if aging were so valuable, why do people always say, "Oh, if i were young again." You never hear people say, "I wish I were sixty-five."
He smiled. "You know what that reflects? Unsatisfied lives. Unfulfilled lives. Lives that haven't found meaning because if you've found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more. You can't wait until sixty-five.
"Listen, you should know something. All younger people should know something. If you're always against getting older, you're always going to be unhappy, because it will happen anyhow."
"the truth is, part of me is every age. I'm a three-year-old, I'm a five-year-old, I'm a thirty-seven-year-old, I'm a fifty-year-old. I've been through all of them, and I know what it's like. I delight it being a child when it's apporpriate to be a child. I delight in being a wise old man when it's appropriate to be a wise old man. Think of all I can be! I am every age, up to my own."
is this not fabulous stuff, people?? absolutely inspiring to me. another part i really liked relating to this topic was this:
"Everyone knows they're going to die," he said again, "but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently."
i absolutely love that. because everyone, including myself right now, needs a reminder and a little time to reflect on who they are, how they spend their time, and what they're doing to make themselves a better person.
lately i have been rather impatient, more so than usual {which is pretty bad bein as i am the least patient person ever} especially with my sweet husband, who is so kind and giving. reading tuesdays with morrie helped me realize i really need to savor every minute with that man i call mine, and to strive to be better every day. i have tried to choose to be happy in times where i could've chosen not be, or maybe times when i have gotten upset with him, instead of choosing to stay upset with him, i choose to get over it, because we are all going to die, and although i know i get to be with my sweet husband for eternity, i don't want to waste a minute here on earth hanging on to useless disagreements. i want to better myself, for him. and for me. i haven't been super great at this, but i am trying.
so anywho..those are my thoughts for the day..if any of you have made it through this very wordy post....i hope you found something great in it as well. and go read the book. it's fabulous. thanks, tuesdays with morrie. :)
now on to reading 19 minutes by Jodie Picoult that just came in the mail thursday. :)
