Tuesdays with Colie Week 2

taken from page 55 of 'tuesdays with morrie'

Unlike week one, this week's lesson hit me like a ton of bricks.

The other day I spoke about how I tend to worry far too much. : /

I believe that in that worry, I start feeling sorry for myself at times.

Do you have those moments?

I'm sure they happen far more often than we would like to admit.

Every time I read about Morrie in the last stages of his life, it always seems to tug at some emotion in my heart.

It makes me stop and remember that life truly is a beautiful thing.

Mitch says that even for Morrie, a dying man, who could no longer stand, barely wash/feed himself, or pull up his pants thought that he was lucky.

LUCKY!

Can you believe it?

That seems like a bit crazy since we tend to fret over even the smallest of things not going our way.

I think Morrie was special, though. 

I hope only to be more like him. :)

Mitch once asked Morrie if he felt sorry for himself.

This was his response:

"Sometimes, in the mornings. Thats when I mourn. I feel around my body, I move my fingers and hands - whatever I can still move - and I mourn what I've lost. I mourn the slow, insidious way in which I'm dying. But then I stop mourning. I give myself a good cry if I need it. But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life. On the people who are coming to see me. On the stories I'm going to hear. On you - if its Tuesday. Because we're Tuesday people."

It is okay to be hurt, to worry, to be sad, to struggle, to feel broken.

Just remember that you are alive and that you have purpose.

In the mist of what we face, I hope we remember that life is short.

(and. so. very. precious.)

Don't feel sorry for yourself.

Be proud. 

Be grateful.

Give thanks.

Smile often.

HAPPY, HAPPY TUESDAY!

much love, friends.

(PS) ---> Mitch said that visiting with his old professor was like 'a cleansing rinse of human kindness'. 

So don't just remember to be kind to others, but remember to be kind to yourself. 

If you have made it this far in your life, then you are doing good. 

Until next week's lesson ...

my one word.

let's all try to live by this motto. <3

we live a world that wants everything & we want it RIGHT NOW.

for me, it is hard to imagine that anything existed before this way of life.

we are not very patient people. 

our lives have become consumed around how life, in some way, owes us.

we tend to think, sometimes not purposely, that we need to get exactly what we want at the very moment we ask for it.

*i get easily annoyed if my internet connection is slow (or heaven forbid i go a full day without it!)

*if someone isn’t going “fast enough” in traffic

*if i don’t get my food the way i want it (i’m a picky eater)

*if my iphone isn’t doing what i want it to do

*if i don’t receive an immediate answer to something i feel is oh-so-important

*if someone doesn't do what i need them to do for me, especially if i have asked them several times

i tend to get annoyed or complain when things are not going the way i feel they should go.

& sadly, this isn’t just me.  

we live in a world that is focused on “me, me, me”.

then we lose sight of what is really important.

for that reason, i am doing away with my “new years resolution”. 

because if i want to be honest here, i never do any of them. : /

so, instead i am focusing on one word. 

one word to sum up what i want to change about myself and my life for the coming year. 

that word is GRATEFUL.

(**The definition of grateful is warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; thankful; expressing by gratitude; or pleasing to the mind.)

i think it is easy for me to complain about so much that i don’t have and yet 

… what would life be like if i never had any of these things to begin with?

would i still have so much to complain about?

to feel like life just isn’t being fair to me?

i spend so much time rushing through life that i forget to just live.

to take the time:

to breathe.

to love.

to be grateful.

i hope to change that in 2012.

so, now….what is your one word?

oh, and remember to --- >

much love, colie.

(ps. this 'one word' idea came to me by reading this lovely post. enjoy!)