Life Lessons We Get From Tuesdays with Morrie
Learning and applying these could make our lives much better.
Reading a good book is always a delightful experience. There are some books we pick up that make us laugh, cry and teach us something we did not know already. There are some which make us more empathetic and kind. But reading a few books makes us feel why we did not come across them earlier. They make us ponder how we are living our lives and how we need to. They strike a chord and make us remain in their afterglow for as long as we live.
I happened to read one such book in Lockdown. I learnt so many lessons in those 192 pages that could make us all better and kinder human beings. The book is named “Tuesdays with Morrie” and it is written by Mitch Albom. Mitch is really close to one of his teachers in his university. One day, he gets to know that his favorite professor is suffering from a terminal ailment and has only a few months to live. Mitch visits him on Tuesdays and gets his insights on various topics of human relevance such as death, aging, family, love, and many others. It is a story of compassion and gratefulness which warms the hearts of its readers.
I want to share some of the lessons I got from it.
1. A Busy Life Would Not Guarantee You A Happy Life
Mitch recalls in his book that after university he did many jobs and kept himself busy. He worked at a pace that knew no hours and limits. He would wake up, brush his teeth and sit at the typewriter all day long, working and juggling various jobs. He was so occupied yet, unhappy.
Morrie, on the other hand, did things differently. He joined several discussion groups, made many friends, and danced. He was happy to be alive.
On one occasion, Morrie tells Mitch:
“ Mitch, the culture does not 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?”
At the start of the year, I was of the view of Mitch. I used to fill my schedule for the whole day. I used to do so many things, but at the end of the day, lying on my bed I used to think that life still seems all over the place. I used to sense a void inside me that nothing else could fill. Then, I read Morrie’s approach towards life and started to look from a distance and try to study which things and emotions were missing from my life that needed to be worked upon.
2. Life is What We Make of It
When Morrie got sick and was living on borrowed time, he was so optimistic and a smile graced his face all the time. He could not do anything by himself, so he had to depend on helpers. A sickness like this could kill a person from inside. On the other hand, Morrie greeted everyone with a smile and talked to people kindly.
This made me think that a man must always try to make the best of whatever circumstances he is in. We all have our struggles. We all have good and bad days. However, it is important to realize that with a positive mindset, patience, and optimism we can live a good life.
3. Keeping Death in Mind Can Make us Live Better
Morrie was of the view that if we kept in mind we were going to die one day, we would block out all the distractions from our lives and focus on the things that really matter.
In a conversation he tells Mitch:
“The truth is Mitch, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live. Most of us all walk around as if we’re sleepwalking. We really don’t experience the world fully, because we’re half asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do. (When you face death) you strip away all that stuff and you focus on the essentials. When you realize you are going to die, you see everything much differently. The things you spend so much time on — all this work you do — might not seem as important. You might have to make room for some more spiritual things.”
The book has these, and many other important themes that need to be thought upon, discussed, and applied to our lives.