Why I Love Books #1. They Can Provide You With Perspective, Taking You Outside of Your Limited View, Giving You a Taste of Someone Else's Experience.

"It is a slightly arresting notion that if you were to pick yourself apart with tweezers, one atom at a time, you would produce a mound of fine atomic dust, none of which had ever been alive but all of which had once been you. Yet somehow for the period of your existence they will answer to a single rigid impulse: to keep you you.

The bad news is that atoms are fickle and their time of devotion is fleeting- fleeting indeed. Even a long human life adds up to only about 650,000 hours. And when that modest milestone flashes into view, or at some other point thereabouts, for reasons unknown your atoms will close you down, then silently disassemble and go off to be other things. And that's it for you.

Still, you may rejoice that it happens at all.
Generally speaking in the universe it doesn't, so far as we can tell. This is decidedly odd because the atoms that so liberally and congenially flock together to form living things on Earth are exactly the same atoms that decline to do it elsewhere. Whatever else it may be, at the level of chemistry, life is fantastically mundane: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, a little calcium, a dash of sulphur, a light dusting of other very ordinary elements- nothing you wouldn't find in an ordinary pharmacy- and that's all you need.

The only thing special about the atoms is that they make you. That is, of course, the miracle of life."

- Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

"I'm officially disabled, but I'm truly enabled because of my lack of limbs. My unique challenges have opened up unique opportunities to reach so many in need. Just imagine what is possible for you. Too often we tell ourselves we aren't smart enough or attractive enough or talented enough to pursue our dreams. We buy into what others say about us, or we put restrictions on ourselves. 

I have a choice. You have a choice. We can choose to dwell on disappointments and shortcomings. We can choose to be bitter, angry, or sad. Or when faced with hard times and hurtful people, we can choose to learn from the experience and move forward, taking responsibility for our own happiness.

What good is a life without limbs? Just by looking at me, people know that I faced and overcame many obstacles and hardships. That makes them willing to listen to me as a source of inspiration. They allow me to share my faith in God, to tell them they are loved, and to give them hope.

That is my contribution. It's important to recognise your own value. Know that you also have something to contribute. If you feel frustrated right now, that's okay. Your sense of frustration means you want your life to be more than it is now. That's all good. Often it's the challenges in life that show us who we are truly meant to be." 

- Nick Vujicic, Life Without Limits

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

"I came to see that each day is precious, not for what we can "do with it", but for what it is. Many people express the view that it is not until they know they are dying that they live fully and truthfully, focusing on what's important and discarding what's not. But the reality is we are all dying. Our death may be days away; it may be decades away. But there's no avoiding it.

Understanding how very precious life is, and seeing for myself how fiercely and tenderly people cling to life when they know how little time they have left, I also realised that like any love, our love for life soars when we allow it to become unconditional.

What this means to me is loving life* even when it's not following my orders, wishes or desires; loving life even when it feels massively unfair, disappointing or tragic; loving life even when I am not getting what I want from it. 

Of course I welcome some things more than others; of course I am concerned with keeping myself safe; of course I want to do my bit for kindness and goodness and beauty. But loving life only if or when it gives me what I want would keep me from being real."

- Stephanie Dowrick, Choosing Happiness

* NB: I'm pretty sure when Stephanie uses the term "loving life" here she doesn't mean that we should be "stoked" with everything that happens. I think she is talking about having a general attitude that acknowledges that life has value, simply because of what it is. At least that's how I took it.