2 books

Managed to finish 2 books recently: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom and Pour your heart into it: the starbucks story by Howard Schultz. Both books are inspirational in their own right and I will recommend both of them to you guys. Both books narrate about their journey: his journey during the twilights of his years and his journey to success as an entrepreneur respectively. Will like to write about my reflections on the former.

Tuesdays with Morrie:
Few passages I quoted from the book:

1) Yes, I said, but if ageing were so valuable, why do people always say, “oh, if I were young again.” you never hear people say, “I wish I were sixty- five.”
He smiled, “You know what that reflects? Unsatisfactory lives. Unfulfilled lives. Lives that haven’t found meaning, because if you’ve found meaning in your life, you don’t want to go back.

This is so true. How many of us really live our lives to the fullest. How do we define a satisfactory and fulfilled life? Adding war trophies to the rack? Getting many certificates? Getting a lot of recognition? Can all these goes into the grave with us? Will we be remembered after we have passed on.


2) “The truth is, you don’t get satisfaction from those things. You know what really gives you satisfaction?”
What?
“Offering others what you have to give.”
“You sound like a Boy Scout.”

Beginning to read Rovering to Success by BP too. Coincidentally, they focus on one central theme: Happiness derived from helping others. It is the joy of helping people that will make one’s life complete. So what do I benefit from helping people? What sorts of returns do I get? Sadly, if you are looking for material things, I guess you will not find it here for helping people, voluntarily. For me, the reward is seeing all these young men and women growing up to be useful citizens and living a fulfilled life. And the satisfaction derives from this is what I can bring with me into my grave. The legacy that I created will live on, even if I have passed on.


3) “Why do you think that it’s so important for me to hear other people’s problems? Don’t I have enough pain and suffering of my one?
“Of course I do. But giving to other people is what makes me feel alive. Not my car or my house. Not what I look like in the mirror. When I have my time, when I can make someone smile after they were feeling sad, it’s as close as healthy as I ever feel.

Words of a dying man suffering from ALS. He was losing controls of his body parts and eventually when the lungs stop to function, he will die. But still, Morrie was still helping others with their problems. Why then me, a healthy person, do as much? Look at the following picture. How do you feel after viewing it? What if you are the one to create this image =)


4) “Still,” he said, “there are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: if you don’t respect the other person, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don’t know how to compromise, you’re gonna have a lot 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 is values, Mitch?”
Yes?
“Your belief in the importance of your marriage.”
. . . . .
He ended the subject by quoting the poem be believed in like a prayer.”LOVE EACH OTHER OR PERISH.”

I agree with him absolutely. Below is the person that I will want to marry and care for the rest of my life. Have you found yours yet? Something that I have discovered is LOVE is not the euphoric feeling you have when you feel for someone for the first time. It is the lasting feeling of excitement of seeing each other even after 8 years into the relationship. It is when you help each other to achieve each other’s dreams will then come the LOVE. And this love do not confine to you and your spouse but also to those around you. That includes your families and friends as well.

Just want to end off this reflection of mine: to derive life’s greatest happiness, help others!

Disclaimer: these are my views and if it conflict yours, read it for pleasure sake then =)