I used to read books a while ago and could not get the chance for
some while
After a long gap. Started with a wonderful book tuesdays with Morrie. Suggested
by my friend. Luckily had a softcopy of it and could complete it during the
boring long meetings :P
I usually type the lines which I like for my reference ..but
I could copy this time..:)
Some important lessons to be remembered were in the book
1.“Accept what you are able to do and what you
are not able to do.” (p. 18)
2. “Accept the past as past, without denying it
or discarding it.” (p. 18)
3. “Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive
others.” (p. 18)
4. “Don’t assume that it is too late to get
involved.” (p. 18)
5. Find someone to share your heart, give to
your community, be at peace with yourself, try to be as human as you can be.
(p. 34)
6. “Love always wins.” (p. 40)
7. “The culture we have does not make people
feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the
culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it.” (p. 42)
8. “So many people walk around with a
meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they’re busy doing things
they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The
way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others,
devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating
something that gives you purpose and meaning.” (p. 43)
9. “ . . . if you really want it, then you’ll
make your dream happen.” (p. 47)
10. “The most important thing in life is to
learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” (p. 52)
11. “Love is the only rational act.” (p. 52)
12. “I don’t allow myself any more self-pity
than that. A little each morning, a few tears, and that’s all . . . . It’s
horrible to watch my body slowly wilt away to nothing. But it’s also wonderful
because of all the time I get to say goodbye.” (p. 57)
13. “Sometimes you can’t believe what you see;
you have to believe what you feel.” (p. 61)
14. “What if today were my last day on earth?”
(p. 64)
15. “Once you learn how to die, you learn how
to live.” (p. 82)
16. If you accept you are going to die at any
time, then you might not be as ambitious as you are. (p. 83)
17. There is no foundation, no secure ground,
upon which people may stand today if it isn’t the family. (p. 91)
18. “Don’t cling to things, because everything
is impermanent.” (p. 103)
19. “ . . . 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.” (p. 118)
20. “Money is not a substitute for tenderness,
and power is not a substitute for tenderness.” (p. 125)
21. “ . . . love is how you stay alive, even
after you are gone.” (p. 133)
22. “Love each other or perish.” (p. 149)
23. “ . . . the big things—how we think, what
we value—those you must choose yourself. You can’t let anyone--or any
society—determine those for you.” (p. 155)
24. “Don’t let go too soon, but don’t hang on
too long.” (p. 162)
25. “Be compassionate. And take responsibility
for each other. If we only learned those lessons, this world would be so much
better a place.” (p. 163)
26. “Forgive yourself before you die. Then
forgive others.” (p. 164)
27. “As long as we can love each other, and
remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away.
All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You
live on—in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were
here.” (p. 174)
28. “Death ends a life, not a relationship.”
(p. 174)
29. The important questions have to do with
love, responsibility, spirituality, awareness. (p. 175)
30. “You’re not a wave, you are part of the
ocean.” (p. 180)
31. “ . . . there is no such thing as ‘too
late’ in life.” (p. 190)
And few more lines which I loved while reading
So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They
seem half-asleep, even when they’re busy doing things they think are important.
This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into
your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your
community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you
purpose and meaning.”
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his
influence stops.”
Henry Adams
Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do?
Am I being the person I want to be?’”
If you want the experience of having complete responsibility
for another human being, and to learn how to love and bond in the deepest way,
then you should have children.”
But detachment doesn’t mean you don’t let the experience
penetrate you. On the contrary, you let it penetrate you fully. That’s how you
are able to leave it.”
When you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”
North American Arctic, for example, who believe that all
things on earth have a soul that exists in a miniature form of the body that
holds it—so that a deer has a tiny deer inside it, and a man has a tiny man
inside him. When the large being dies, that tiny form lives on. It can slide
into something being born nearby, or it can go to a temporary resting place in
the sky, in the belly of a great feminine spirit, where it waits until the moon
can send it back to earth.
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
battling against getting older, you’re always going to be unhappy, because it
will happen anyhow.
“Fate succumbs many a species:
one alone jeopardises itself.”
W.H. Auden,
We put our values in the wrong things. And it leads to very
disillusioned lives
There’s a big confusion in this country over what we want
versus what we need,”
We all have the same beginning—birth—and we all have the
same end—death. So how different can we be? “Invest in the human family. Invest
in people. Build a little community of those you love and who love you.”
there is no such thing as “too late” in life. He was
changing until the day he said good-bye.
