"tuesdays with morrie"---a must read!!

I just finished reading 'tuesdays with morrie'
its an amazing book by mitch albom....and one cant help but devour it in one stretch....
its a pageturner and yet its something which will remain with u throughtout ur life....each word pulls at ur heartstrings in sucha way that u never want to let go...and fair enough if u follow what 'morrie' has to say, u will always be happy in life :)
the book speaks about the the rekindled relationship of mitch albom with his dying professor...the only person who can understand him perfectly...and just like he understands life....
its heartwrenching and ironical how this man has so little of life and yet understands it like noone can....his perspective leaves u in awe just like it left mitch....
'tuesdays with morrie' is one book i will always hold dear and i cant help wishing i had known atleast one person half as wise as him :)

here are a few lines from the book which left a deep impact on me----

"have i told u about the tension of opposites?"
the tension of opposites?
"life is a series of pulls back and forth...u want to do one thing but u are bound to do something else...something hurts you, yet u know it shouldent..u take certain things for granted, even when u know u should never take anything for granted.
A tension of opposites is like a pull on a rubber band and most of us live somewhere in the middle"
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"sometimes in the mornings," he said "thats when i mourn..i feel aorund my body. i move my fingers and my hands what ever i can still move---and i mourn what ive lost..i mourn the slow incidious way in which im dying.but then i stop mourning"
just like that?
"i give myself a good cry if i need it.but then i concentrate all the good things still in my life.on the ppl who are coming to see me..on the stories im going to hear..on YOU-if its tuesday.because we are tuesday people.
"mitch i dont allow myself any more selfpity than that...a little each morning..a few tears..and thats all"
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"sometimes u cannot believe what u see..you have to believe what u feel..and if u ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that u can trust them to--even when u are in the dark...even when you are falling"
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"take any emotion--love for a woman or grief for a loved one or what im going through, fear and pain from a deadly disease. If you hold back on the emotion--if you dont 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 pain..afraid of the grief..afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails.
but by throwing yourself into this emotion, by allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your head even, you experience them fully and completely. you know what pain i..you know what love is..you know what grief is..and only then can u say "all right, i have experienced that emotion..i recognise that emotion.now i need to detach from that emotion for a moment"
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"we all know how to be a child..its all inside of us..for me, its just rmeembering how to enjoy it.
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 care of--unconditional love, unconditional attention.
most of us dint get enough"
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(morrie on the topic of love)
"in business people negotiate to win.they negotiate to get what they want.maybe you're too used to that.
love is different.love is when you are as concerned about someone else's situation as you are about your own"
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(this is what morrie explains to mitch about the value of aging)(mitch): yes i said but if aging were so valuable , why do people always say "oh if i were young again"..u never hear ppl say "i wish i were 65"
He smiled "you know what that reflects?unsatisfied lives..unfulfilled lives..lives that havent found meaning..
because if uve found mreaning in your life, u dont want to go back.you want to go forward.you want to see more.do more.u you cant wait until sixty-five"
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(this is morrie's answer when questioned if he worried about being forgotten after he dies)
"i dont think i will be.ive got so many people who have been involved with me in close intimate ways.and love is how u stay alive even after you are gone"
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(morrie's views--on building a little subculture of your own)
"i dont mean u disregard every rule of your community.i dont go around naked for example, i dont run though red lights.The little things, i can obey.
But the big things--how we think,what we value--those you must choose yourself.you cant let anyone--or any society--determine those for you"
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(morrie's words---on forgiveness)
"its not just other people we need to forgive mitch" he whispered "we also need to forgive ourselves"
ourselves?
"yes.for all the things we dint do.all the things we should have done.u cant get stuck on the regrets of what shold have happened.that dosent help u when u get to where i am"
"i always wished i had done more with my work.i wished i had written more books.,i used to beat myself up over it.now i see that never did any good.make peace.u need to make peace with yourself and everyone around you"
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morrie brings a smile on your face inspte of all the pain he is living through and the best part about it is he dosent see the pain and at times even makes u envy him...everything he says makes soo much sense...
i finally understood what they mean when they say its your perspective that matters :)
i guess thats what 'tuesdays with morrie' was all about....
Mitch albom has put it across beautifully...and on reading the book i couldent help but fall in love with morrie :)
if u guys havent caught up on it yet, you are really missing out on something...its a read of a lifetime!