I know I've been MIA around blogville for some time now. I decided to take a break from virtual reality to face my tangible reality. A lot has happened since my last post, but I'll make an entry about that later. Meanwhile, I've been doing spring cleaning around my house since last week and it's been so tiring but I'm almost done. I just unearthed a few notes I made while I was reading Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie a few years ago. And I would love to share them with you. Here are a few excerpts from the book which touched my spirit and are still applicable to my heart:
Maybe Death is the great equalizer. "The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, & to let it come in". Levine: "Love is the only rational act".
"I give myself a good cry if I need it. But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life".
"Not everyone is so lucky" - this apparently is the "coldest realization".
On the issue of preparing to die, Albom remarks: "...the culture doesn't encourage you to think about such things until you're about to die. We're so wrapped up with egotistical things; career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks - we're involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don't get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this all? Is this all I want? Is something missing?"
"Everyone knows that they're going to die but nobody believes it, if we did, we would do things differently."
"Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live"
"...if you accept that you can die at any time - then you might not be as ambitious as you are".
"The fact is, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn't the family".
Auden: "Love each other or Perish"
On 'detaching myself from the experience' - "don't cling to things, cause everything is impermanent".
"But detachment doesn't mean you don't let the experience penetrate you. On the contrary, you let the experience penetrate you fully. That's how you're able to leave it".
"You're afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails"
"Devote yourself to loving others, devoted yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning".
This was a smokescreen - "my greed inconsequential compared to theirs" (other people).
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What will you be reading this Spring? I plan to finish Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love by next week and then finally finish The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. Those are wonderful books you can get cozy with on these rainy spring nights!
xo Anya
15 comments:
what does "once you learn how to die, you learn how to live" mean
James, I derived that this quote means that when we learn to become aware of the inevitability of death as humans, only then can we learn to live life truly and fully, being aware that one day we will die.
lol @ james...na true talk be that.
nice quotes tho and so true.
are u nigerian?
yes soupasexy. I am Nigerian <3
Eat, Love, Pray is at the top of my summer reading list. I wanted to get it before I left the states last year, then Oprah had to mention it on her show, and Barnes and Nobles/Borders was out!!
The Secret is a great book. My mum bought all her friends copies, and watched the DVD everyday for a hot minute. Let me know what you think when your done reading it!
Been wanting to read "The secret" for a while. Trying to get my summer book list together. Does anyone know any great african books out?
I swear I need Chimamanda Adichie to write another book FAST!!
How u be?
2 nigeriandramaqueen: your mom loved the Secret movie that much, eh? wow - it must be really good then. I checked their website and I can watch it at $4.95 per view. I won't be doing that though, I'll just settle for the book for now. Lemme know what other great reads you find for the summer.
2 simi speaks: I dunno any new african books out this year. I'll let you know if I find something. And the other day, I was just thinking to myself wondering if Miss Adichie would write a sequel to 'half a yellow sun' or even 'purple hibiscus'. Now wouldn't that be something!
And by the way, I'm doing good. It's been raining all morning here :S
wow...i never had to read that book and always wondered what it was about...nice...i too have some reading to...paulo coelho...trying to read some more of rumi...zena actually has a pretty good list on her page...how's the weight loss going?...how are you?...
guerreiranigeriana, I love Paulo Coelho's books! They're so great in the english translations, sometimes I wonder if they do the portuguese versions any real justice.
The weight-loss is going good ...contrary to my aspirations to continue jogging i've only been walking on the trails near my house. So there goes my plan to do a 10K in mid-summer. Oh well :S
I hope you're doing good yourself.
Oooooooooooowwww she’s back!! Missed ya.
Me thinks that book of urs is too dark oh…We all know we are going to die but I’d rather not think about it talkless of study it.
you love paulo too?!...yay...part of the reason i haven't read yet is that i am trying to wait and read it in portuguese...i'll have to keep my english-portuguese dictionary close...you should try rumi...i'll try and post a poem or two of his...i think you'd like him...has interesting thoughts on love...
...walking is good...i've been doing that too...tried to run and do some capoeira movements and almost died!!...haha...think i may have pulled something...so i'll just try and club a little and dance to tone those unused muscles...;)
my roomate just bought Tuesdays with Morrie. Im gonna read it....
"Everyone knows that they're going to die but nobody believes it, if we did, we would do things differently." this is so true!
i just finished The Secret too, but had small beef with it cos of all the 'Universe' thing in it. For crying out loud, it aint d universe. it's God Almighty!
Anya, where o where have u been? it's May just in case u hadnt noticed *pulling a face*
1. i tag u, eagerly await ur quirks...lol
since summer is practically all year round in Naija, i plan to read half of a yellow sun sumtym this year...lol
Not really into authors who write dark, my "darkest" is Danielle Steel...lol
C u around yea? mwah
2 afrobabe: yes hun, i'm back. I've been getting dirty and doing some soul searching too. That book wasn't too dark o...maybe I just focused too much on the dark parts which I posted up. I hope you're doing OK, take care!
2 G-Nigeriana: paulo coelho is really one of the greats, I'm trying to get 2 of his books...the Zahir, and 'the devil & miss prym' I think that's what they're called. have you read those?
and you can do capoeira? ow wee... those moves seems so hard. I guess because I have no upper body strength. :( well goodluck with running, I went 4 a run yesterday & I thought my ribs will cave in. It really burned.
2 N-dramaqueen: I hope you enjoy it! It has some really great life lessons.
2 f-f florida: I know. The secret is really written for a secular audience that's why they've got all those things going on with the universe and ish. You should read 'Eat Pray Love', she calls it God and she's not even a christian!
2 smaragd: hunny, I just posted an entry with my 6 quirky facts. Check it out...I did it for you!!! They're not all that spectacular but they're facts!
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