Morrie Schwartz words of wisdom

Prof. Morrie Schwartz suffered ALS. When death was approaching him he shared his wisdom to his favorite student, Milch Albom. Words of wisdom from that book:

When Morrie was diagnosed with ALS he told his friends tath if they really want to help him, they should treat him not with sympathy but with visits, phone calls, and sharing of their problems …the way they always been..

“Dying” is not synonymous with “useless”

Love is the only rational act.

Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel, and if your are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too—even when you ‘re in the dark. Even when you are falling

The truth is: Once you learn how to die; you learn how to live.

Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do; accept the past as past, without denying it or discarding it; learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others; don’t assume that it is too late to get involved.

Life is a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you yet you know it shouldn’t. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted.

The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves, and you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it.

So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half asleep, even when they‘re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they are chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning in to your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.

If you don’t have the support and love and care and concern that you get from a family, you don’t have much at all. Love is so supremely important. Without love we are birds with broken wings.

Family is not just love, but letting others know there’s someone who is watching out for them that is called “spiritual security.” Nothing else will give you that, not money, not fame.

There is no experience like having children. There is no substitute for it. If you want the experience of having complete responsibility for another human being and to learn how to love and bond in the deepest way then you should have children.

Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.

If you are trying to show off for people at the top, forget it. They will look down at you anyhow. If you‘re trying to show off for people at the bottom, forget it they will only envy you. Status will get you nowhere.

In marriage: if you don’t respect the other person, you are gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don’t know how to compromise you are gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can’t talk openly about what goes on between you, you are gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don’t have a common set of values in life you are gonna have a lot of trouble.

In the beginning of life when we are infants, we need other to survive; at the end of life we need others to survive; the secret is : in between also we need others as well

Be compassionate and take responsibility for each other.

Source:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6900.Tuesdays_with_Morrie