Tuesdays With Morrie
Yo guys,
I have been a bit absent from the blog to say the least eh. I realise it's been more than two whole months since I wrote my last entry, I miss writing here!
I've been having a bit of a difficult time lately due to a mixure of events turning my world 180 degrees around (completely, 360 degrees, around would be an overstatement). Anyway, these things that have been happening have made me think about life and prioritise life differently - sort of in the same direction as my last entry. I recently found this book about a dying elderly person sharing his life experiences with a younger man called Tuesdays With Morrie. Although it does have certain bits that even I regard as cheesy, there are certain excerpts that are beautifully written, and I cannot disagree the least bit, but just nod along in agreement. I just wanted to share some quotes from the book that I think applies to each person's life.
I thought about how often this was needed in everyday life. How we feel lonely, sometimes to the point of tears, but we don't let those tears come because we are not supposed to cry. Or how we feel a surge of love for a partner but we don't say anything because we're frozen with the fear of what those words might do to the relationship.
Morrie's approach was exactly the opposite. Turn on the faucet. Wash yourself with the emotion. It won't hurt you. It will only help. If you let the fear inside, if you pull it on like a familiar shirt, then you can say to yourself, "All right, it's just fear, I don't have to let it control me. I see it for what it is."
Same for loneliness: you let go, let the tears flow, feel it completely - but eventually be able to say, "All right, that was my moment with loneliness. I'm not afraid of feeling lonely, but now I'm going to put that loneliness aside and know that there are other emotions in the world, and I'm going to experience them as well."
"It's very simple. As you grow, you learn more. It's more than the negative that you're going to die, it's also the positive that you understand that 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."
"I heard a nice little story the other day," Morrie says. He closes his eyes for a moment and I wait.
"Okay. The story is about a little wave, bobbing along the ocean, having a grand old time. He's enjoying the wind and the fresh air - until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore.
"'My God, this is terrible,' the wave says 'Look what's going to happen to me!'
"Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave looking grim, and it says to him, 'Why do you look so sad?'
"The first wave says, 'You don't understand! We're all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! Isn't it terrible?'
"The second wave says, 'No, you don't understand. You're not a wave, you're part of the ocean.'"
I smile. Morrie closes his eyes again.
"Part of the ocean," he says, "part of the ocean." I watch him breathe, in and out, in and out.
I am risking breaching copyright laws and getting sued by posting this entry, so people, appreciate the quotes! Or go read the book!
P.S. Before I go to bed (as I can hardly keep my eyelids open), I just wanna show off my super-cool new earrings! The head, trunk and legs are not attached together, so if I shake my head, she groooves!)
