Tuesdays with Morrie

Whenever someone asks me about my hobbies, reading books is probably the first or second thing I talk about, and like most people that read, I have my preferences - Biographies, History, Management/Productivity/Self Help, Sci-Fi and maybe some fiction here and there.

Tuesdays with Morrie, a memoir of a sociology professor, was not the kind of book that would typically be on my radar. Gifted by friend, it sat on my book shelf for a few months before I picked it up because I wanted a quick read, and I think I owe them a thanks for sharing this book with me.

Below are some of the highlights from the book —

Over the years, I had taken labour as my companion and pushed everything else to the side.

— Mitch

On Meaning

The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote your- self to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning. — Morrie

On Death

How can you ever be prepared to die?
"Do what the Buddhists do. Every day, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks, 'Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?' " — Morrie

On Emotions

In order to detach from an emotion, one needs to experience it fully. Whether it's sadness, fear or loneliness, in many cases, our first instinct is to try and suppress it.

But in order to get out of it, you need to let go, experience it fully, then you can say that you know what that emotion exactly is and move away from it. — Morrie

On Ageing

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 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. — Morrie

On The old envying the young

How can I be envious of where you are, when I've been there myself.

On Money

Remember what I said about finding a meaningful yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating some- thing that gives you purpose and meaning.

"Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be longing for somebody else's things.”

On Marriage

Is there some kind of rule to know if a marriage is going to work? - Mitch

"there are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: If you don't respect the 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."

On Culture

Here's what I mean by building your own little sub- culture," Morrie said. "I don't mean you disregard every rule of your community. I don't go around naked, for example. I don't run through red lights.

The little things, I can obey. But 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.

"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?"

His voice dropped to a whisper. "But here's the secret: in between, we need others as well."

On Death — and accepting it

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....Death ends a life, not a relationship."